


just an outsider in the end.

by リリス - riris (arurun)



Series: in memory of the ones that live again. [4]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Breaking the Fourth Wall, Fluff and Angst, Fourth Wall, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mild Gore, Mild Language, Neglect, No Romance, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Depression, Sick Character, Suicidal Thoughts, Terminal Illnesses, Thunderstorms, oc is a teacher in 3-E, reincarnated with scars, teacher actually does teacher things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2020-01-14 13:31:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 41,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18477226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arurun/pseuds/%E3%83%AA%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B9%20-%20riris
Summary: Look, I really didn't mind the fact that I died and reincarnated into Ansatsu Kyoushitsu. I didn't really mind that you gave me a hole in the heart. That was a real dick move, but I didn't complain. So god, Void, whatever, I'm sorry I punched a student. Please recall my demotion into Class E. Please, the moon literally just exploded and I don't wanna be there!





	1. cliches are cliche.

**Author's Note:**

> Life was a bunch of cliches. You know what's worse? Getting reincarnated into an anime-- that is cliche. So, god, why did I have to be the cliche? You couldn't have picked someone else?

"So you're telling me," his voice was utterly exasperated, "you found a goddamn guy so you're just gonna goddamn leave."

His older sister cackled at the choice of wording, rounding a muffler loosely around her neck.

All Naomasa could even remember about her was her hair-- wavy, long to her shoulders-- and in that peculiar, peculiar shade of brown that was the colour of sand. The colour of his own hair, and a colour his parents didn't have.

"Sorry, Nao," the girl patted her younger brother on the head with naught a sense of affection in her touch, "I love him, I really do. But he's..." she hesitated, a secret she failed to let in on, "not a normal person, you see. And I decided that if it was for him, I'd even throw away my own birth papers."

Kazumasa, her absolutely unidentical twin (who in fact had black hair,) scoffed. He had been standing there since who-knows-when, so it was hard to acknowledge the girl was gonna elope if everyone saw her off on the way.

"Say hi to Mr Boyfriend for me," Kazumasa groaned, leaning against the wall in a show of resigned arrogance, "tell him he's getting dissected next time I meet him."

"You guys never stop fighting, huh?" 

Nao feels his sister's hand leave him-- and solemnly, he knew that would be the last of her.

"Goodbye, Nao," she told him meaningfully, "and goodbye, Kazumasa."

"Yeah," Kazumasa spoke the words Nao could not voice out, "Goodbye, Kazane."

To Nao, this was only the beginning of it. Two years later, Kazumasa would leave too-- before scurrying back at the knowing of his younger brother suffering a heart failure and landing himself in the hospital.

Perhaps, Nao came to think his heart defect-- a hole in the heart that unfortunately didn't stay closed-- was a blessing. It called his family back to his side when he needed him. It also told him just how little Nao meant to them-- Kazane never returned, and Kazumasa never stayed long.

The Kunomasu family was one that functioned without adult parents. Naomasa was fully ten years younger than his older siblings, so he was only a teen when the older siblings left their nest, following their parents' footsteps, leaving the youngest home alone to fend for himself. 

Money was sent home each month, and even if his brother were to visit, he wouldn't stay longer than a week before rushing back out to his work-related business.

Nao lived with a friendly florist as his guardian for the majority of his life. His life was sustained with sufficient living expenses and his surrogate mother cared for him like he was her own.

Right- enough of that-- I was going somewhere with this story. I had a point going in some direction, but I've honestly forgotten it now. Will I go back up and retype everything again? No, I will not. Why? 

Simply due to the fact that the point I'm trying to make is literally this-- his life is a fuckin' compilation of cheesy cliches piled up together to form the ultimate magical sandwich of tragic backstories.  

Y'know what was worse?

He  **knew**  his life was just a fucking compilation of cliches.

And how did he know?

Yeah, you've read the summary. You know. He died and he reincarnated, boo-hoo, now he knows he's lived an entire life before, and now he's in a new world where he has to try and live normally.

**Tragic, isn't he?**

And he bloody  _hated_  it, most especially the fact that his first name is completely ripped off from some side character from another anime.

He grew up to become a teacher of a school, and that is where this story begins.

ー

ー

"Hey, fork over the cash already, ya wimp!"

The younger student whimpered, shoved down by his larger-sized peer. His bag was snatched, its contents were dumped and one slim wallet was picked up, its cash emptied and pocketed.

**_I could not have walked in on anything more cliche, could I?_ **

Nao groaned, stepping off the path and swinging into the goddamn alley for a detour he didn't wanna take. He crunched a lollipop in his mouth, and clutched a bookbag under his arm. His brown hair was brushed, gelled back in a farce of professionalism, but the man himself was anything but.

His clothes were crumpled, not ironed, and he wore no tie for a casual suit. His sleeves were already rolled up at the start of the day; he had on no socks, and a silver piercing shone on his left ear.

"Hey, kids," he greeted them casually, "seems like you're having fun."

Someone swore, shooting back at the sight of the intruder. Another cursed the bullied boy for dallying, and someone was probably running. Following suit with strange shrieks of a bear monster, the bullies frantically tossed the stolen cash back in the direction of the victim, then scurried away like rodents.

"Hey, hey, I didn't say anything yet," Nao hollered, but the last of them had left only dust in their wake. He sighed, exasperated-- "goodness, don't bully if you're gonna scramble at the sight of me, weaklings!"

Rolling a colourful candy under his tongue, Nao crouched down and bunched up the discarded school material, trying to fit them back into the bag it came from.

"Here," he shoved it towards the boy, "the entrance ceremony begins in thirty minutes, so do make sure you come on time."

"Ah--" the boy seemed to have been stuck in a trance-- "uh, thanks, Kuma-sensei."

Kunomasu Naomasa, lovingly referred to as 'Kuma-sensei', is a certified Language Teacher in the well-renowned Kunugigaoka Junior High. He may lack the etiquette of an elite, but his tenure was perfectly on the level-- thus, not many had the opportunity of complaint toward his actions.

As long as he did his job, he was one of this school's many well-performing educating professionals.

"Good morning, Kuma-sensei!" someone-- a boy with dark brown hair, spiked downward strangely (or was it considered plain, knowing this was an anime world?), he was rushing on into the school, waving at the teacher briefly before he continued on his way.

"Morning, Isogai," Naomasa responded simply, barely sparing the boy a glance. His head was in the clouds, considering the classes and lessons he had to lead today-- hm, would he make it in time for his checkup at four? why the crap did he even need a--

Someone crashed into him, diving right into his back. 

Naomasa stumbled, but did not fall. Shiota Nagisa's face was buried in the teacher's back, having tripped over his feet in his hurry.

"Ah- Kuma-sensei, I'm sorry," Nagisa straightened himself an panic, bowing once in a mixture of a greeting and an apology, "please excuse me."

Naomasa sighed.

Lifting his head to the skies, he found the moon above him-- high in the faded sky, clear and visible without a cloud in the distance. A nearly perfect crescent shape was stamped cleanly into the blue-- it almost looked fake.

The uproar of the shattered moon struck the world a couple of weeks ago. The commotion had died down among the masses-- but simultaneously, the new school year began. 

Soon, the assassination classroom would come to be up on that mountain, and all this while, Naomasa would stay down here in the confinements of this warped elite school as one of its many personnel involved.

Knowing the ending, Naomasa thought he ought to go about looking for a new place to work.  But for the moment, Naomasa was going to stay down here and try to live his life.

And on all accounts, with all due respect,  **he is NOT going to get involved.**

**No, he is not.**

His life is already filled with enough cliches as it is and he's dying the fuck out of himself just existing as an icon of angst potential!  **He is NOT going up there!**  Not at the cost of his goddamn life, even if he's held at gunpoint! 

**_Those were the words he furiously rambled the day before he was officially assigned to class 3-E; so I suspect he had triggered a flag in the most cliche way possible-- by jinxing it._ **


	2. a 'portent' is an omen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tragedy strikes you in ways you probably could've avoided if you minded your own business. But I'm a teacher! I'm supposed to be a responsible person and do what my job description entails!

** ** _Don't try catching fireworks in the rain._

Someone's ridiculous hipster shirt once said something like that, pretending to sound cool. It made absolutely no sense. Why fireworks? Can't it be thunder? That made more sense, if you tried going into the water, you'd die. Fireworks don't land in the water, they kinda just dissipate into the atmosphere or something. 

But at the same time, why would you try catching thunder in the goddamn rain, did you mother not teach you to not go swimming in a thunderstorm? Is your brain alright?

I'm quite sure it isn't, which brought us to this chapter's opening.

Naomasa rested his chin on his palm, trying his best to think of some interesting, tricky topic he could get his students to write an essay on. Seeing as they were Junior High students getting ready for high school and better yet college, he needed something difficult, yet holding infinite potential in values. Something vague yet rich.

Seeing as the author of this story is a no-life student with little to no interest in this shit, he's having a hard time trying to come up with things. 

God, why did he take up this job? Why is he in charge of the English pop quiz next week? Who suggested this? Who's the idiot that only told him about it today? Right, Principal Asano.

The lights in the office flickered on, surprising him. His coffee had gone cold, and it was nearly an hour into a new day. He was the only one left in the office, the last of the overtime victims taking off two hours ago.

"I see you are still here, Mr Kunomasu," Asano Gakuho stood by the doorway. 

The tall, brown-haired man was suited up neatly, looking like being in school at this hour of the day was just a normal thing for him.

Nao stood up, "yes, sir-- my apologies, my work unfortunately ran a little later than usual. I will take my leave as soon as I can," he insisted, fumbling over his words. Nao kept his head hung low, bowing in a form of feared respect.

Naomasa did not like talking to that man. As much as he was holding a fairly stable spot in this school, Asano Gakuho had always been an eccentric character-- as someone that never liked talking to someone of authority, Naomasa felt threatened just being in the face of him.

Like he'd eat the younger teacher alive-- like he was standing in front of a hungry lion or something, he didn't like to be there. He wanted little to do with Mr Board Chairman.

"Please do not overwork yourself," Asano's smile was given out of kindness, but it did not feel friendly at all, "I would hate to see a teacher as prominent as you fall sick, after all."

"I am grateful for your concern, sir," Naomasa gave him a smile-- not as much out of happiness than of polite awareness-- Gathering up his belongings with his shaky hands, Nao closed his laptop, gathered his stationary, and shifted his books into his bag.

The last of his coffee was gulped down quickly-- leaving the cup on his desk, he passed the chairman at the door, bidding a polite goodbye as he apologized once again for the late stay on school grounds.

He made no move to question why the principal would be in school at this hour-- it was difficult to bring up, and hell, Naomasa wasn't interested either. He wouldn't wanna trigger some weird event flag by prying too far in. 

One golden rule of the animeverse-- you should never meet up with the main antagonist by coincidence, especially those breed of antagonists that turn into a good guy halfway through. Those guys are teeming with death flags, so I infer from the wise words of one not-historical Okita something.

Naomasa left the school grounds-- looking back once to notice the Board Chairman seeing him off from the chairman's office window. Their eyes meeting, he waved. Nao waved back.

ー

"Sorry, Sakurai-san, yeah," Nao mumbled into his phone, the lady on the other end voicing herself snappy and angered, "I missed my appointment, I know-- I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I was... yes, I know it's important, but--"

His home--  _the Sakurai Florist's_ \-- was about a ten-minute's walk from the school. 

Still, it was the frightful hour of the ox. 

Naomasa was in no way scared of the dark or anything-- nor was he afraid of getting robbed-- he may be beansprout-armed, but he could pack a mean punch if he wanted to!

However vague, he held memories of his previous lifetime-- the life of a girl that lived through to college, yet died on one dark and stormy night-- it made him cautious of his surroundings in such a quiet hour. 

"No shit!"

The loud voice gave Naomasa a horrible fright, and the teacher flinched away as laughter erupted in the very same direction-- an alley. 

"Duude, there's no way we'd ever."

"Just for today, y'know?"

In pure curiosity-- these voice sounded like teenagers, after all; as a teacher, he couldn't just ignore them. 

He took an untimely turn into the alley, tripped over his feet, and yelped disgracefully as he spilled his belongings over the ground in clumsiness.

"Oh, fuck."

There was silence. Looking up, he found a small gathering of students under a lonely street light. Some of them held cigarettes, others were slouched about in sloppy dressing. They didn't wear their uniforms, but as a teacher of many classes, Naomasa knew exactly who they were.

"You guys are first years," he muttered with a curse under his tongue. Picking himself up, trying to forget his inelegant stumble, he dusted himself.

The students were similar to the irritable bunch from the morning-- bold, courageous, rebellious-- and still not understanding the hierarchy system of this elite academy.

 _Potential Future 3-E students,_  Naomasa defined them,  _like Terasaka, people who don't understand the concept of this school yet._

They tutted, "it's  _Kuma_ -sensei," one blond boy raised a sarcastic tone, "fuck off,  _teacher_ , don't you know you ought to turn your eyes away in situations like these?"

Naomasa wanted to cringe-- here it was, and it made no goddamn sense.

He sighed, picking up his bookbag and stepping closer to the four teenagers, "you made it into Kunugigaoka, and you waste your opportunity like this? You'll end up in the E class, y'know."

They rolled their eyes, clicking their tongues.

"I'm sure you've seen the treatment they receive in the ceremony today," Naomasa lectured them, "I'd say we all would hate to end up there, am I wrong?"

None were really listening-- they were being obnoxious kids. Naomasa's words may only sound like any other nagging teacher's complaints to them. Naomasa knew there was no merit in continuing his speech.

Reaching out, Naomasa grasped at a boy's wrist-- the boy flinched, shocked, but was unable to pull away. The cigarette was snatched away, and dropped, where the teacher stepped to extinguish the flare. Naomasa took the cancer stick from the other boy's mouth and put it out on the wall. 

"Wha-- what the fuck was that for?!" the boy was angered now, as if the answer were not obvious. 

"It's against school rules to be smoking, kids," Naomasa smiled, a pretense of professionalism every teacher needed to have, "and it's also against school rules to be out this late away from your homes. Let's play nice and go home, alright? Your teacher here's really tired too."

_Please fucking go home. Please fucking go home._

"Uhm, sir?" the blond boy had the gall to laugh, exasperated, "out of school grounds... I'm just some roadside punk; and you're just a shitty old man."

Some stepped into place behind Naomasa, as if to surround him--

A threat flow thick in the air, and Naomasa now knew the kids had little intention to oblige to any rules-- much less school rules.

Blondie stepped off the trash can he sat, on, picking out something from his back pocket-- a small, handheld, battery-charged taser gun.

He held it like it was a phone-- obviously an amateur. He flickered it on-- the silver-blue sparks of electrodes flickering to life. He raised it near to the teacher tauntingly.

Naomasa chortled, unaffected by the "what, your mommy bought you a taser? Is that considered cool with your gang or something?"

"You can laugh, but you won't be laughing anytime soon," Blondie groaned, "these things really hurt, y'know? I've used it before."

And he wasn't exactly wrong.

Teenager were mortifying beings sometimes, and electrocution hurts. Naomasa thought he saw the goddamn taser, but their richass parents apparently bought them two.

It began as a cold electric current that shot up like a knife through the rest of his senses-- then it forced his muscles to contract past their limits and bound them in place. Pain was horrendous, but the numbness and the overwhelming frustration overtook him as he found himself on the ground, incapacitated. 

The kids laughed in victorious glee, thinking they'd won. After all-- what could this teacher do? This was an alley, in the wee hours of the morning. And they were students of an elite school. If they all played dumb, the teacher would be in a bad spot.

Naomasa knew that-- so the irritation only bubbled into rage. Laying on the ground, unable to even budge an inch, the startling depth of unconsciousness beginning to flood over his gaze--

His fist clenched-- he bit down on his lip.

Both muscles should've been completely numb, but he could move them. The voltage was a little weak, perhaps-- because he was recovering already.

The exhaustion that devastated his senses were tempting. 

There was an ache at his chest. A very bad ache that grew like a deep, throbbing clench-- he heard his heart in his ears, the tune thrumming his brain. 

It was somehow a little hard to breathe.

He'd felt like this before-- this same discomfort that just made him want to vomit from the nauseating unease that boiled in his chest. But there was nothing to throw up. 

There was only endless throe.

Naomasa thought of the last time he'd felt like this-- ah, yes, he remembered, quite clearly-- the one memory of his past life that he remembered much more clearly than anything else.

 _Her fear, her screams, her cries_ \-- _on that stormy night-- crossing the street, a careless truck that drove himself into a telephone pole-- and the wires that came at her like a swinging razor that burned with the calls of death._

**Then, darkness.**

Naomasa stood up, groaning and leaning heavily on the wall. He did not like this, and he felt so fucking sick he just wanted to go home and sleep. 

"Fuuck," he grunted, catching the attention of those irritably insane teens, "you guys made me remember something incredibly shitty."

The gang had turned around, alarmed. They were annoyed, too-- because, damn, can't this teacher get off their case already? 

_Sure, Naomasa would've, but they started it!_

 "The fuck?" they swore back, "didn't work, dude!"

"Then you do it this time!" his pal yelled back, irritated.

They seemed to be in disagreement, overconfidence booming within them. Naomasa was in no way someone that could beat anyone in a fight, much less anyone with a taser or some form of a weapon or something.

But his ears were ringing and he was just tired. Maybe he should've went for that stupid checkup this afternoon, for some reason his chest was hurting and his fingers were cold.

"Well, sir," the blond punk came up before him again-- a smug, jeering smile, "we kinda need you to stay down for a while longer. If you can, please forget our faces too!"

Naomasa was too far gone for calm.

Two quick steps forward, he sent one satisfying punch at the little imbecile's face.

The boy was blown back far-- and now, he was angry too. With one raging warcry, blue electrical discharge flew as he thrust the taser forward.

Keeping his calm, Naomasa swerved to the side. Fixing his pivot on one foot, effectively dodging the straightforward charge at him.

He grabbed the boy's wrist tightly, his other hand locking its place at the base of the boy's neck-- then, with a strength fueled by a surge of angry adrenaline, Nao pulled the boy forward and pushed him down to the ground.

Naomasa breathed out a sigh of relief, slightly proud. 

"Not too bad for a weeb imitation," he muttered to himself.

He cast a glance at the others overlooking the scene from the side-- they were stunned with disbelief, locked in place and not daring to move. 

"So, you said it. Outside school grounds, I'm just an old man and you're just a roadside punk," Naomasa returned the words. 

Twisting the taser from the boy's arm, he calmly switched it off, bending the boy's arm in a painful hold as he stood calmly against the group of punks before him.

"So, what do you say we all go home and forget this bullshit ever happened?"


	3. in tragedies, the good are exiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A teacher punching a student probably isn't a good idea. Especially if the school's image is more important than what really went on that day. But really, getting sent into 3-E instead of jail? That's plot convenience right there.

"I must say I'm disappointed, Mr Kunomasu."

Nao stood before the principal in the dimly lit office. He was scrutinized with only anger and disappointment, watch little move Asano Gakuho made was met with an uncomfortable shiver rushing down his skin.

"I believe you have understood the consequences of your actions," Asano did not sound pleased-- the details of the issue shimmered in the background, burning bright as those eyes Asano had. It was like being stared down by the devil himself-- mortifying.

Naomasa kept his head down-- there was no other way.

At best, his educational license would be revoked. At worst, he would be filed a lawsuit and would have to serve in prison on assault. 

"The five students that were involved have been suspended for a week for evident reasons," Asano helpfully supplied, "as for you... here we are."

Suspended, not expelled, huh?

At the very least, they didn't get off the case scot-free. Perhaps, one of them caved and told Asano the truth of the event-- but that didn't mean Naomasa would be any less guilty.

For an educational professor to raise a hand on a kid-- that was in no way right, in any situation. And Naomasa knew that.

He gulped, nervous.

"I trust you were late for a hospital checkup this morning?" Asano inquired, surprisingly politely.

Naomasa flinched, raising his head slightly-- "Y-Yes, sir..."

"Well," Asano hands were folded-- his smile was eerie, a simple facial expression serving as a threat-- "I suppose we cannot condemn you, in honour of the injuries you sustained."

_Huh?_

"Excuse me-- I'm sorry, what?" Nao gawked.

"I've heard that Class E up on the hill have been suffering issues of students being unable to settle and behave against their teachers," Asano explained briefly, as if it were a matter of fact all of a sudden--  _wait, why is Class E involved? Sir?_

Unable to settle and behave against their teachers, Nao considered carefully, he didn't remember much of the teachers up there having trouble warming up-- ah, is Bitch-sensei already around? No, even so, she settled down quite well in the following period of time...

"They've been a recent hassle, unfortunately, due to very unforeseen circumstances," Asano simpered, "it would concern me if someone trustworthy was not by their side to tug on their reins once in a while."

"Pardon my... rudeness, sir," Naomasa stuttered over his words, concerned, "but was not Yukimura Aguri-sensei in charge of the class prior to her passing? I fail to recall if there was a new establishment of a teacher in charge of 3-E."

He was sweating profusely, not knowing quite clear why he was trying to half-lie his way around the situation-- yes, he can't show signs of knowing Koro-sensei yet, that's common sense.

"Is that so?" Asano seemed unaffected, strangely accepting the question as a thing he could just brush off, "well, I think I've decided on the man."

Naomasa found his lips curving upward, blasting with exasperating bewilderment.

"Congratulations, Mr Kunomasu, we have decided against bringing this incident to court, and you may keep your teacher's license," Asano reached for the phone, as if it was a done decision, "so I hope to see you in Class E from tomorrow onward."

Okay.

**_No, not okay!!_ **

"Wait-- hold up!!" Naomasa panicked, "sir, what of the students? Their parents? Surely, they wouldn't be approving of this in any--"

"Please rest assured, I will have my ways," Asano consoled the teacher, "I believe you would much prefer this alternative in comparison to court, am I wrong?"

"Well, yes, but--" Nao was freaking out further, all his senses willing him off the course of swearing and into the course of composing a concrete response, "sir, as honoured as I am to receive this pardon, I fail to see the reason you would... subject me to this... uh, biased treatment."

_No no what in the holy hell is going on_

_As far as logic goes this is pushing it_

"As you've mentioned," Asano smiled, "it has come to my attention that Class E currently lacks supervision from our school. I wish for you to keep them in check, that is all."

_Fuck, am I in a bloody fanfic?_

**_Is the government okay with this?!_ **

_I can't just say yes to this, can I? I'm not supposed to know about the octopus on the hill, but I know the government wouldn't be pleased to have me up there and-- like--_

_**going up there would mean me getting caught up in the Assassination Classroom, right?** _

_Fuck no! I literally just--_

Naomasa was no assassin and in no way was he was combatant. Going up there as a normal teacher would be many forms of just plain  **odd**.

"Do I..." he scratched his cheek nervously, "have the right to refuse?"

Asano's smile brimmed ever more cheerful, "yes, you may. If you're willing to risk some of your lifetime behind bars, of course."

  ー  

He didn't need to go for class in the afternoon, so he just went back home.

"You're early."

Ms Sakurai was a florist that really didn't do much except being a florist. With mellow auburn hair styled into the ironic side ponytail, it was hard for anyone to not like her as a person.

"I'm home," Nao mumbled, "great news, I got demoted."

"That's terrific," Ms Sakurai smiled, drying her hands on her peach apron, "you're alive!"

Nao stumbled, "you always manage to be more negative than me, huh?"

Gently cradling a bouquet of multicoloured roses in her arms, she approached the man with a  smile, picking out one that bloomed a false shade of yellow and offering it to him.

Nao accepted the golden rose with mixed emotions--

"Jealousy?" Nao asked, "Or Frienship?"

Ms Sakurai shook her head.

"Uh, I don't know the yellow ones all that well... Remembrance?" Nao tried again.

Ms Sakurai giggled, rubbing her (surrogate) son on the head, "it's  **the promise of a new beginning** , Nao. Also, welcome back."

His gelled hair now sticking strangely, Nao groaned, reaching up to fix it.

"There's nothing delightful in this new beginning, Ms Sakurai," Nao sighed, "I'd rather have it symbolise something more emotionally genuine."

Ms Sakurai picked out a blue rose.

"Unattainable, huh," Nao mused, taking the rose with unconcealed repulse, "give yourself a pink one from me, Ma'am."

"You're welcome, dear," Ms Sakurai chuckled.

  ー  

Nao's room was on the second floor, overlooking the street. It was a small space, but it was where he'd lived for a decade.

He was only in his late twenties, but occasionally he felt like he was a hundred years old. 

Just in the morning he got a lecture from the doctors in the hospital about his goddamn heart-- something about putting him in for an operation? He didn't listen. He was given a new dosage of medicine and sent off with strict reminders of his next checkup.

Then came Board Chairman Asano.

Naomasa considered leaping off the building now. 

Genuinely and with all his soul, he hated the idea of being near that class. Sure, he was born into this world that strongly dictated from an  ** _anime_** , and he's a teacher of the main character's school; but he was content being a teacher in the main building, living his life peacefully with Ms Sakurai. 

Why would he want to be caught up in that drama up on the mountain? What would he even do? What ** _can_**  he even do?

If he triggered the Butterfly Effect, there would be hell to pay.  _No, what if the Temporal Paradox applies? No, get this Steins Gate bullshit out of my head, this isn't that kind of story!_

Naomasa sighed.

Guess he'll just have to wait and see what happens up there.

Catching sight of himself in the mirror, he unbuttoned his dress shirt, revealing a large, white stain on his skin. Splashed from the left shoulder, spilling to his chest above his heart, stretching to end around his elbow-- bright white against dark beige skin. 

It was a mark that branched out a thousand times, forming an art resembling an abstract winter tree. Or-- the scientific referral of this shape-- a Lichtenberg figure. He noted the edge of the branches, little white fingers pooling like a thousand hands reaching out hungrily toward his heart.

**They say birthmarks are a symbol of how you died in your past life.**

Nao came to the conclusion that Afterlife God loved to be gaudy.


	4. climb up the hill of death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nao wishes he'd have a heart attack. Like, right now, because he doesn't want to make the rest of the godawful climb up this mountain. This is torturous.

"I regret... everything."

Nao's suit jacket was off of him before he even started climbing. Five steps up the hill, he realized he was never going to make it. Code red, he was already late, so there were no students en route to school he could ask to help him out.

His heart began to clench, shrinking itself with the cries of reluctance in response to the exercise. It refused to supply the meager oxygen needed for his cells to-- respite and provide energy-- ugh, thinking about all this scientifically was a way of coping with the pain he felt.

Or maybe his brain was just giving out and he was genuinely going mad.

His legs resigned, and he leaned against a tree, deciding a break would be wise.

He was barely halfway up the mountain, but he felt like he'd run a marathon around the whole world. His head was pounding and his breath was erratic.

This was beyond the level of being unfit.

_The goddamn E-class Mountain is ridiculous!_

"I came here," he choked, "to teach-- not for a bloody hike--"

He didn't know how he'd make it up here on a daily basis. He didn't think much of it the day before, but this was impossible. He was sure the Board Chairman knew of his physical health condition-- but at the same time, maybe he just didn't care...

Nao sat down under a tree, leaving the path to hide under a shade.

Can't he like, just suddenly appear in the class every day like how it seems to be in every episode-- he sighed, head hanging down in defeat.

  "I wanna go home."  

  ー  

"Korosensei, what's... Karasuma-sensei doing out there?"

Kayano Kaede, seated by the window, raised her voice in concern. They were in the midst of 3rd period, Modern Literature, when she noticed a very familiar government agent standing at the entrance of the 3-E building.

His suit jacket was at his arm, the sun having been up for a while. A clipboard hung sorely at his fingertips and his feet tapped irritatingly impatient.

"Even though it's so hot outside..." Sugino Tomohito turned his attention outside as well, many other following suit, "is he waiting for someone?"

Korosensei was a little displeased at their diverted attention to his class, but he simply sighed with patience. "Well, I've heard we were supposed to greet a new teacher today, I suppose Mr Karasuma is waiting on him to show up."

"A new teacher?" 

Korosensei responded with a delighted 'uhn!', "apparently something happened back in campus, so he's getting transferred up here. It's a teacher from main campus."

The mention of the main building gave everyone a seething rise in their chest. Most, if not all the main campus teachers were the same-- they were uncomfortably discriminating, and the fact that they were students of Class E would only be pressured down further if they came up to this mountain.

But no-- weren't the tables turned? Why would a prideful teacher from main campus be sent here? A demotion? Tragic.

"Wait, even though you're here?" Isogai Yuuma was surprised-- surely, no normal teacher could just be shipped up here with this octopus around! "Didn't the government have anything to say about it?"

"About that," Karasuma Tadaomi was suddenly at the window now, overhearing their conversation and deciding to come into the shade for a while, "the Board Chairman was quite insistent about it. Apparently the new teacher's gotten caught up with the law."

"With the  **what**?" Kimura Masayoshi gawked, "a Kunugigaoka teacher. What did he do?!"

Karasuma sighed, scratching the back of his head in resignation, "the government are unfortunately not in a good position to go against him, so we had no choice aside from submitting to his decision, on the condition this new teacher adheres by the same rules you students would."

Akabane Karma leaned over the window, interested now, "sounds awesome!" he mused, a grin crawling up his face as he plotted-- ah, revenge; sweet sweet revenge against all those irritating teachers back in the stupid main building-- "So, when's he coming?"

"Well, that's the thing--" Korosensei turns to the clock, concern in his tone as his face falls sullen in concern, "he should have been here by homeroom, but as we can see, he's nowhere to be found."

"You think he skipped?" Nakamura Rio suggested snarkily, sarcasm high in her tone, "I mean, this is the E class after all. It's kind of a humiliating demotion, isn't it?"

Karasuma groaned, muttering words of a waste of time. He turned back to the clipboard-- one page of the new teacher's personal data, given by the Board Chairman for brief reference.

"Is that the new teacher?" Kayano Kaede spotted the clipboard, leaning over to take a closer look, "well, since he's a teacher from main building, wouldn't some of you guys recognize him? Lesse..."

Now basically everyone was absorbed in the missing new teacher. As much as Korosensei was devastated, he was keen to figure the situation-- a new teacher meant new company, after all. Most likely someone with superior authority over him? Oh no--

"Uh, his name's... Mr Kunomasu," Kayano read out, Karasuma turning the board toward her so she could read easier, "Mr Kunomasu Naomasa."

It was like glass shattered in the atmosphere-- the entire class aside from Kayano and the teachers just froze up in utmost horror.

"Huh?" Korosensei noticed the frozen silence, "what's wrong, everyone?"

Mouths hung agape and eyes widened in dread--

"This is bad," Karma chortled nervously, breaking the silence.

"You think he's alive?" Terasaka wasn't sure.

"Sugino, Kimura, let's go!" Isogai was dashing out the door, Sugino Tomohito and Kimura Masayoshi tailing after him without question. 

"Huh?! Wait, class??" Korosensei freaked out.

  ー  

"Oh, you saved me," Nao sighed, leaning into Kimura's back.

Sugino was holding Naomasa's bag; and Isogai was holding his jacket. They were making their way up after finding their teacher contemplating life and watching clouds in melancholy somewhere halfway up the hill.

In actuality, his water had run out somehow and he was contemplating his will, but they didn't need to know that.

Being screamed at by kids from a distance was mortifying, but so was getting pulled into a piggyback against his will all of a sudden, so he just gave up and waited for the trip to end.

"You could've called," Isogai chuckled, "we would've helped you up before class began."

"I overslept, you see," Nao groaned, "things are hard when you get yelled at by the Board Chairman for socking a kid in the face."

"You  **what**?" Sugino and Kimura were utterly appalled.

"It's a hassle to explain, so pretend you didn't hear that," Naomasa grumbled, "congrats, Kuma-sensei belongs to you guys from now on. Good night."

"As much as we're happy to hear that we have you," Sugino sighed, "...wait, are you sleeping?"

"I'm falling unconscious," Naomasa insisted, his voice faltering as his head hung at the boy's shoulder. "Let's just say I lack oxygen and am getting a heat stroke, so I'm fainting from the excessive temperature rising inside my body. Science. Won't get you full marks in a test but I've always hated biology so it doesn't matter."

"It's spring and it's still morning!" Kimura was mortified, "you're just using the excuse to take a nap, aren't you?"

Naomasa tutted.

"He just clicked his tongue!" Sugino reported.

"Then I'm dying, good night." 

"Kimura, run up!"


	5. greet the cast from hell.

Korosensei's laugh was oddly nostalgic. It sent shivers of delights down Nao's spine, but the bits that tinged at his shoulders, leaving their mark for just a moment longer, felt a tad melancholic. It was laughable and contagious, so much he didn't bother trying to act surprised toward the 2-metre tall octopus.

A two-meter tall abomination, with an uncomfortably round face, a stupid long graduation-robe-looking thing with a stupid wide tie at his neck, matched with a tiny graduation hat.

"It is very nice to meet you, Kunomasu-sensei," he had introduced himself, greeting the younger with his grin of impossible proportions.

"The pleasure is mine, sir," Naomasa smiled back, lifting his head up. Turning to Mr Karasuma, Naomasa bowed and greeted the government agent as well.

Naomasa was below average in height for his age, but he stood well normal as an adult. Despite that, Korosensei's height was towering and dominated the classroom. Naomasa couldn't help but be spiteful that he had to be shorter than Karasuma, too.

"Kuma-sensei, are you alright?" someone spoke up from the back.

"Well, I don't seem to be dying, so I think I am?" Naomasa returned the question, "Kimura ran all the way up here with me on his back, so I think he'll need a little longer to recover from that."

Kimura Masayoshi held up a shaky thumbs-up of reassurance.

"Kuma-sensei, don't you find that-- thing, uh, Korosensei-- weird at all?" Maehara Hiroto wasn't sugarcoating himself-- his referral of the teacher as a 'thing' made the Octopus sob.

"I couldn't decide if I should freak out or faint in shock," Naomasa's answer was bright, beaming and immediate, "so I decided to just let it be."

Shiota Nagisa couldn't help but chuckle in resignation, "Kuma-sensei's as carefree as ever, huh."

"I prefer to refer to myself as a cliche-hating anomaly," Naomasa seemed to boast of himself, a hand at his chest, "and I dislike overdramatic conflicts. They take up too many sentences for no development. Not a wise literary device to implement in a story."

"Are you having a lesson all of a sudden?" Yada Touka pointed out.

The class erupted into a strained laughter-- hesitance was in the atmosphere. Why was Kunomasu Naomasa sent up here? They had no way of knowing. And Naomasa couldn't offer an answer better than the fact it was simply one of Asano Gakuho's whims.

Naomasa was out of place in the assassination classroom. Most of them were sullen 'failures' of the school that was supposed to no longer have anything to do with this teacher-- Nao wasn't going to partake in the E-class discrimination up here-- but that didn't mean it wasn't true. Now, Nao would have to be a part of the discriminated.

And well, he had to figure out ways to deal with it.

"I was a little nervous, but I've taught most of your normal classes in the previous years, haven't I?" Nao took a spot at the teacher's table, speaking up and catching the attention of the students that didn't really feel too up to the situation, "although the environment's been altered a little, I know that in truth none of you have changed much as who you are."

This made a few lift their heads in interest.

"Well, it seems there are a few unfamiliar face as well--" Naomasa chuckled, casting a glance at Kayano Kaede-- a green-haired girl who wore her shoulderlength hair in high twintails-- "everyone calls me Kuma-sensei, so I hope you'd call me that too. It's a little late, but I'll be taking over Modern Lit and Japanese from today onward, do go easy on me!"

Korosensei's infinite tentacles slithered messily as he picked up Naomasa's book back, a comb, hair gel?? and a tie-- 

"Well said, Mr Kunomasu, we all do look forward to having you around henceforth!" he grinned, and in the next instant his tentacles were just zooming around Naomasa at a sonic pace.

Nao's hair had gotten messy on the route up, but Korosensei had fixed it so neat it actually felt very uncomfortable. But to Nao's dismay, a tie was fitted into his neck.

A mirror was held before him, as if Korosensei was trying to say _so so how do you look how do you look, amazing, aren't I?_

The Octopus' grin looked smug and proud, as if he was waiting for a word of praise.

"Thanks very much, sir," Nao's hand went casually to the tie, pulling it away from the button-- Korosensei's soft squishy cold tentacle materialised at Naomasa's grip, holding him from taking it off. 

Nao's other hand reached up, tugging the tie downward-- Korosensei reached something like ten of his tentacles to stop his attempts, "Noo, please keep it on!"

Karasuma pinched the bridge of his nose, ailing a headache as he realized there wasn't going to be a nice civilised interaction around.

The students watched, too baffled to do anything else. I mean, do you usually see a teacher fighting with an octopus over a goddamn tie?

"Let me take it off, dammit!" Naomasa snapped, and with one burst of strength, he won over ten weak squishy mollusc arms, gripping the soft fabric of the tie with lowkey anger as he face the octopus.

"I'm not putting on a tie," he growled, seething, "thanks for your kind gesture."

The Octopus, face turning blue in sadness, sobbed in the corner, "I thought it looked good on you," he whined, "you didn't have to reject it so hard..."

Naomasa's bright and beaming demeanor now shattered in the eyes of the students, Karasuma was utterly confused about this new character. The fact that he had little reaction to Korosensei was off in itself-- but Karma didn't react much to the teacher either, so... Not to say that Karma is normal in any way.

But someone getting along with Korosensei to engage in a quarrel like this was a first. Even Karasuma wanted nothing but to put a knife in the irritating Octopus.

"I'll wear it, if it's a little less warm out, alright?" Naomasa sighed, "if I wear this now, I'd get a heat stroke."

 _Now he's trying to console the octopus_ , everyone was taken aback.

He crouched down beside the large yellow abomination, looking over it regretfully like it was a spoiled brat that needed care. 

"Stop being so down, I'll give you some candy or something, geez!"

  ー  

Karasuma was a government agent. He was tall, strict, and his hair was spiked upward strangely, I hope it's gelled, I don't know. He always wore a suit, complete with a tie--  _Naomasa had given up on the suit jacket and vowed never to wear that thing again_ \-- despite the weather.

"Huh? I'm getting this too?"

Naomasa held the strangely weighty knife in his hand-- it was green, felt smooth as plasticine but had the consistency of rubber. 

**_S.A.A.U.S.O._ **

The words were white and printed on the flat of the blade, a strange marking that probably meant something to the military, but Naomasa didn't know what it meant. 

He gripped the handle carefully, rubbing his finger on the bolster, the heel, the grip and the guard-- he held the edged of the knife and bend it like a ruler to see how far it'd go, but it seemed like he could coil it into a swiss roll and it's still work fine.

"Huh? you know what that is?" Karasuma seemed baffled.

Naomasa flinched-- "I- I uh, read it in the briefing report the government sent me!"

Sure enough, he had gotten a short acknowledgement of what and who exactly Korosensei was-- a strange Octopus that appeared not a week or so ago, claiming to have destroyed the moon-- and consequently, threatened to blow up the Earth in the coming march.

It was unknown why he even willingly came up to Class E, but the government had little option but to take that chance at the risk of planet Earth.

Even if it meant making Junior High Students become assassins, they had to.

"Do these really work on him?" Naomasa asked, referring to Korosensei-- "toy green daggers."

"Personally, I'm not too sure why it works," Karasuma mumbled honestly, "but he gave it to us, and nothing else works, so we're taking it."

Naomasa placed the Anti-Sensei Knife on the desk.

"So, do you hate me, Mr Karasuma?" Naomasa asked, "I came out of nowhere, interrupting government efforts, creating a hassle for your work. A nuisance, aren't I?"

Karasuma was silent.

"It's fine, you can be honest," Naomasa chuckled, "I have no skills, nor can I handle any form of sport due to my condition. There is virtually no way I can contribute to this assassination."

Naomasa looked out the window, finding nothing but the quiet. The nature. The emptiness, the solitude, and the separation of Class 3-E.

Now, he was a part of that-- he found it hard to sink in. As much as the whole assassination thing was hard to take in, the fact that he was sent into this old campus meant it was a devastating, terrible demotion.

He thought being a teacher was his calling-- maybe now, he realized he had failed in that too.

"You may have been out of our plans, but in my personal view, you are no different from any of the students that were caught up in this issue unwillingly," Karasuma spoke up, picking up the knife and walking toward Naomasa again.

Karasuma pushed the knife into Naomasa's hand meaningfully-- with one strong gaze that did not really mean anything deep, Karasuma excused himself and left the room.

Naomasa burst into laughter.

"Too serious!" he guffawed, "Mr Karasuma's way too serious!"

Holding the Anti-Sensei knife in his hand, Naomasa touched the tip, felt the spine-- and sighed. He guessed there was no helping the situation, then.

But maybe, he felt a little better about himself now.

 


	6. forging temporary bonds, for what?

"Kayano Kaede, was it?"

Naomasa approached the girl as she sat down by a tree, a short break during PE class. Perhaps because the girl knew she was sweaty and probably stank, she inched aside as the teacher came to sit beside her.

"Kuma-sensei," she addressed.

Unlike the rest, Kayano Kaede had only transferred into Kunugigaoka for a short period of time. Even so, she had fallen into Class E under the same notoriety as everyone-- low grades? rebellious behaviour? It would be insensitive to question.

"So," Nao made himself smile, opening a lollipop to enjoy, "are you enjoying school?"

Typical teacher question, but Nao really didn't know a better way to start a conversation. Well, Kayano was a conversation bringer. She'd make something happen.

"Uhn!" her response was spirited, "everyone's a little strange, and Korosensei's the weirdest of them all, but it's not a bad class."

Her smile was gentle, a slight curve. Her hair fell gently at her shoulder, clustering at her neck in its strange, teal shade. Nao thought of her as an adorable girl-- after all, she was small, petite, and had a charming personality.

If he didn't know better, that is.

"Is that so?" Nao felt happy for her.

_I want to think that your smiles, at least, were real, Kayano._

"That's right, Ms Sakurai told me she was making pudding today," Nao spoke up, pretending to be talking to himself.

"Pudding?!" Kayano's eyes lit up, alarmed.

Nao chuckled, leaning over a little, subtly closing the distance between them. "You want some? I'll treat you to a few tomorrow, our secret!"

"Really?" Kayano was delighted.

"I smell a secret!" Korosensei materialised before them, eyes glittering diamonds making the two simultaneously shriek in absolute horror.

  ー  

Akabane Karma was a little difficult to approach.

He didn't have a good experience with teachers-- what with the dumb hierarchy of Kunugigaoka and all-- so although he viewed Naomasa as 'the better of the pack', Naomasa was still considered a member of the two-faced badgers in school.

Carrying a stack of books down the hallway during lunch, Naomasa spotted the red-haired boy in the distance, sipping on a pack of strawberry milk.

Their eyes met for a brief moment, in pure coincidence-- and oops, Karma couldn't just ignore him now, could he? Reluctantly, Karma approached the brown-haired teacher and offered his help.

Nervous but grateful, Naomasa accepted the offer.

"Hey, sensei, what did you do to get up here?" 

Naomasa was surprised that Karma was the one to bring up a conversation. As casual a question it seemed, Naomasa feared that his response would be accountable for Karma's impression of him forever.

Karma hated teachers-- because in this world of discrimination, the law was to glorify those with good grades. Justice was to protect those who lagged at the end. Law came over justice in this world-- and Karma came right in the face of that reality.

 **A 'teacher' dies the moment they fail in the eyes of a 'student'** ; that was the belief Akabane Karma held firmly in his heart. Unfortunately, Naomasa had already crossed the line when he raised his hand against a child.

"Board Chairman Asano acknowledged me as a teacher-- an educational professor," Naomasa admitted regretfully, "but he saw me unfit for his regime, thus, he sent me away."

That was one reason Naomasa had concocted after deep thought.

Asano Gakuho was a man that was hard to read. He removed his own obstacles with his own power, and created solutions with only words. He saw issues quickly and thought up ways to overcome them-- and no matter how crazy, how underhanded it seemed, he would play it out personally. 

Maybe Naomasa was just a piece of the puzzle. Or perhaps, Nao was just one of many little obstacles Asano cleared away without thinking much of. Naomasa had no way of knowing.

"Being a teacher's a little harder than I thought," Naomasa chuckled, scratching his cheek bashfully, "after all, I'm forced to be an adult no matter the situation."

Naomasa had a point. He was going somewhere with this. 

He forgot about it halfway through his speech-- and had no choice but to leave it as it were. Lost thoughts never came back to him, after all. There was no reason to chase after it so desperately.

"Well, I just did what I thought was just," Naomasa believed, "sorry if I rambled."

Karma remained silent-- but Naomasa noticed the hostile look in his gaze had softened. Perhaps Karma was genuinely uninterested now-- but Naomasa wanted to think that Karma had understood his teacher just a little better.

They entered a classroom, settling the books down on the teacher's desk.

"Thanks for helping me take these in, Akabane," Nao called to the boy as he excused himself, "also, I swiped the wasabi and mustard in your pocket because they're dangerous."

Karma flinched, hands shooting to his pocket-- his back pocket, his blazer pocket-- gone. His unfortunate, absolutely only there for random purposes harassment weapons were gone.

He swung back toward the teacher, horrified-- Naomasa, catching his gaze, raised the two tubes of spicy seasonings from his hands to prove his point.

"Dangerous," he emphasized, "so they're confiscated."

Karma could only chuckle dryly in response.

  ー  

"Oh, Kuma-sensei, what're you looking at?" 

Shiota Nagisa-- a blue haired, angrogynous-looking boy with his already-short hair bunched up in twintails similar to Kayano's. As adorable as that seemed, Naomasa liked to think of Nagisa as a more masculine form of endearing. 

"Hi, Nagisa," Naomasa sighed, leaning over the windowsill as he gazed to the outside scenery, "I'm not looking at anything, I'm just thinking."

Nagisa took a spot at the window beside the teacher. School was out for the day, so most were heading home now. Someone was trying to stab Korosensei outside, and a few of the class punks were yelling at each other for spilling a sandwich on the ground.

"Kuma-sensei, even you have worries?" Nagisa laughed lightheartedly.

"Yeah, the author's concerned that if I don't find a solid role to play in this story soon, readers are gonna get bored and leave," Nao mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Everyone has their downtime moments," Naomasa told him, considering the blue-haired boy carefully, "I believe you would understand that very well, Nagisa."

Nagisa's smile fell, as if Naomasa's words had struck a discomforting nerve. He was disturbed-- but there was no way his teacher would know so much about him, would he? It wasn't as if people spilled stories of their life to anyone else.

Naomasa and Nagisa knew little about each other, yet they held a deep bond to each other as teacher and student.

"Korosensei's a great teacher, isn't he?" Naomasa turned his gaze to the octopus waving at the students going down the hill, "he's dependable, smart, and he knows just how to bring about the best in everyone."

"Even though he's an octopus," Nagisa chuckled, bringing out a notebook from his poocket and jotting down something new in his list of Korosensei's weaknesses.

"Even though he's an octopus, indeed," Naomasa echoed in agreement. 

  ー  

"Good morning, Kunomasu-sensei!"

Ms Sakurai was fortunately not freaking out, but there was a monster in her shop.

Naomasa had always known Korosensei's disguises were atrocious, but seeing it in person made Naomasa question the octopus' sanity.

Korosensei's miserable excuse of a camouflage into civilisation included a fake nose, a flat wig, sleeves, and gloves. And changing his skin colour to a human-ish beige,  **that's it.**

_Mind I remind you of his stupid perfect transmutation-circle worthy round face?_

"I thought I would take precedence to pick you up on the way to school, you see," Korosensei smiled, his tentacles not moving like arms, his movement not looking like he had legs as he slithered his way forward.

Naomasa's face was utterly pale, mortified, baffled-- 

"Terrible," he spat, "I've never thought I'd ever be able to see something so much worse than my Math grades in high school."

"So mean!" Korosensei wailed, "is that the first thing you say to me today?"

"You need to work on that disguise, sir," Naomasa's face was unable to return from the state of horrified.

Naomasa left the Sakurai Florist's, following Korosensei as they walked toward school.

"You are settling down quite well in the class, Kunomasu-sensei," Korosensei chuckled his strange 'nurufufu' sounds, "I'm very impressed."

 _Impressed_ , he says.

"Well, I've known them before I transferred into this class," Naomasa explained, "the Board Chairman sent me up that mountain because he believed you and Mr Karasuma would have issues warming up to the children, after all. I'm simply doing my job."

"And you do it splendidly, Kunomasu-sensei," Korosensei insisted, "you warm up to everyone in different manners, providing them with a very healthy student-teacher relationship that reflects the normality this Assassination Classroom lacks. As I believe that is vital for their growth as student, I must express my gratitude."

Naomasa couldn't help but laugh at that.

All he's done this past month was be himself on a bigger scale than when he was in the main building. Perhaps it was the restrictive atmosphere of the main building that disallowed the concept of fun to be understood.

In the main building, each moment spent without studying was important time wasted on meaningless activities. In Class E, time spent without books were time spent learning much more outside the world of books.

It gave Naomasa the freedom to be himself.

Perhaps this was the joy of Class E-- freedom. The carefree nature that came with being a youth was loss in the main building, because all they thought of was their future.

The main building taught their students with books and knowledge; Korosensei taught his class with experiences and memories. 

Naomasa knew which one he liked better, even as a teacher.

"To be honest, sir," Naomasa admitted, "I'm fairly sure things would turn out the same even without me. I believe.. I know that you can teach the kids much more than I can with just my measly experiences as an educator." 

Nao reached out for the sun, sinking into a smile that only spoke volumes of how little he was in the world. 

"You can-- no, you will do so much for them," Naomasa turned to Korosensei, "their lives will develop and they will grow into so much because of  _you_ \-- I don't think my presence here will have much effect on their futures as a whole."

Naomasa didn't feel sad to admit that. In fact, his heart only told him how that was true and he possibly preferred it that way. 

"No one knows what the future holds, Kunomasu-sensei," Korosensei's voice was not uplifting. His smile was wide and curved upwards-- but it did not look happy. "Everything that people do have meaning in someone's life-- you may not see it yourself, but a little of you lives in everyone you've ever interacted with. It is those tiny fragments that shape the future of a person. You definitely play a part in their futures, Kunomasu-sensei. You shouldn't think otherwise."

Naomasa felt personally, deeply affected by those words.

And although they bloomed in a pain that felt like hurtful sadness in his chest, he knew in his head that what bloomed in his soul was not sorrow, but heartfelt joy.

"Thanks," Naomasa told him, "you really are a great teacher."

_You really were a great teacher, Korosensei._

 


	7. irina and the irony.

Nao made it to school somewhere within third period, having gone to the hospital for a checkup in the morning. He had built up a decent amount of stamina to climb the mountain during the past month he had taught here, so he was able to make it up by himself, albeit with quite some effort.

The children were in the midst of their Physical Education Class-- they seemed to have that class every day now to keep up with the assassination-- and Nao quietly bypassed them, heading straight to the staffroom.

To be frank, he wasn't quite expecting to find anyone in the faculty room before him.

The woman was at Naomasa's age-- but she seemed much more mature. She rooted from foreign origins, blonde hair falling in waves that framed her figure perfectly. Her eyes were the shade of pale ice, sharp and narrowing in scrutiny upon Nao's entrance.

She smoked by an open window, leaning by the windowsill as she tapped at a tablet on her lap. She raised an eyebrow at Nao.

Nao, noting the stare, broke into an instinctive smile of professionalism. 

"You must be the new teacher," he addressed, casually moving toward his desk and placing his items on the chair-- taking a step forward toward Irina, he calmed his breath.

He was nervous-- _this is my first time meeting her,_  he reminded himself,  _I know nothing else_. 

"It is very nice to meet you, I'm Kunomasu," Nao introduced himself humbly, "I teach Japanese and Modern Literature. I've heard you would be taking half of the English classes that I was originally in--"

"Please refrain from the needlessness," Irina Jelavic interrupted briefly, "I do not intend on staying very long-- but it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance... Kunomasu."

Irina approached the male carefully, placing her tablet precariously on the desk. Her movements were fluent, gentle, perhaps even graceful.  _Trained and indoctrinated so_ , Naomasa thought,  _she moves that way because it is simply part of her job description to do so._

It was enchanting-- her figure was curvy, a bumblebee waist, her businesswoman getup only seemed to accentuate her every movement in ways to amplify her bewitching, alluring proportions.

Naomasa swallowed.

Vaguely, he recalls bearing a female physique in his past life. Yet-- this woman had the ability to make his heart falter at the pure beauty of her presence.

Irina Jelavic, a highly renowned honeypot assassin-- terrifying.

Removing her cigarette from her lips, she stalled three steps before him and acknowledged Naomasa. "So I assume you are... a normal teacher in this class?" she considered, almost in disinterest, "I admire your polite greeting, but unfortunately, I do not intend on building relationships beyond the scope of my work. "

She was stern and cold, her glare a frozen orb that only oozed interest in the stream of her current mission.

Nao knew she saw her as useless as the students in class. She knew Nao had nothing of worth from just one look through him-- Nao had no way of contributing to her assassination attempts, so why would she bother with him?

"I see," Nao sighed, acting dismayed by the rejection, chortling nervously. Turning back to his desk, he picked up yesterday's unwashed coffee mug.

"Sorry to bother you then, Ms Jelavic," he smiled at her, "I wish you luck."

Irina's gaze considerably darkened at the name she did not offer. 

Feeling the animosity, Naomasa wondered if he'd pushed a button too far. Ah-- I could pretend he got her name from Karasuma, that'd work. 

But what would Nao even do? He was just a teacher.

Surrounded by monsters, but there was nothing he could really do.

Nao left the room, washing his cup and opting for a new mug of coffee.

  ー  

"Bitch-neesan?" Nao couldn't burst out laughing right there, "as someone who's taught an English class, you guys are surely one to disappoint!"

The Japanese notoriety of mispronouncing Vs and Bs were as infamous as Ls and Rs-- but never in his life had Naomasa thought he'd really witness such a tragedy.

"Ms Jelavic has such a pretty name, so it's such a shame," Naomasa sighed.

Nagisa could only laugh dryly at the comment from the teacher, "Karma-kun started it, and everyone just followed." 

"I don't like her!" Kayano whined, munching on her bread almost angrily. "Her boobs too, cow tits. No one can do desk work with those, she doesn't look the part of a teacher at all!"

"Is that really what you're angry at, Kayano?" Nagisa retorted.

Naomasa couldn't suppress the giggles that just rumbled from his throat, "it's okay, Kayano, you're still a growing child."

"I'm not a child!" the girl pouted.

"Don't mind, flat is justice," Nao corrected himself.

"Kuma-sensei's a pervert! Lolicon!" she whimpered.

"I'm a feminist," a reference no one would understand.

Kayano did not like the correction, but Nagisa and Sugino laughed it off as a harmless joke. Naomasa laughed along too, the three enjoying what was their little time of recess with their teacher.

"So," the conversation dimmed, "Kuma-sensei, what do you really think of the... new teacher?"

Sugino Tomohito was a gentle, kind-hearted boy. He refrained from the crash language he didn't prefer to use, but the discontent was clear in his tone. He did not like Irina Jelavic as much as the other students, but he was letting the disgruntlement bubble below his chest.

"She's not a bad person," Nao's answer was immediate., "she's devoted to her job, that's why she sees nothing else. She's confident in her abilities, and holds a strong pride for her capabilities-- though, it's not to say that her haughty farce won't be her downfall."

Nao-- over the years, he had come to think thoroughly about each of the characters he knew by soul. He developed a personal opinion on each of them, so clear to him it was easy to bring up. It wasn't anything deep, but he liked to ponder upon them every once in a while.

Irina Jelavic was just as her nickname dictated-- a Bitch. Even so, Naomasa couldn't bring himself to hate her. Even as an outsider, he never found himself disliking Irina-- in fact, he found her endearing. 

She was a screwd hitman that used the charm she was born with to the best interests of the masses-- to survive. She discarded pieces she didn't need without hesitation, and seeks to hold no lingering attachments in her life.

To Naomasa, Irina was an admiration for just how human she was.

But the fact that Irina was an elegant woman that held no remorse for men, held no tact and emotion to just use people for their advantage-- that fact alone reminded Nao greatly of his own sister, Kunomasu Kazane-- and the thought filled him with repulse so great he felt nauseated.

Naomasa held two views of Irina Jelavic-- one of his past life's experiences, and one of his present life's sufferings. 

It was a strange conflict of feelings to harbour within him. Half of him wished to respect the hitman as a strong embodiment of feminine strength-- the other half refused to accept her as any much more than the euphemism everyone referred to her as. 

His past life sees the future-- yet his present life lingers in the past.

Clenching his heart, Naomasa felt that something was really wrong about this situation.

 


	8. loud sounds are a menace.

"Korosensei and the new teacher look like they're gonna shack it up in the storage shed," Muramatsu pointed out to Nao, "is that allowed?"

Nao groaned, lifting the Shounen Jump from his face as he rose from his sleeping spot on the grass. The light was bright against the world, so Nao decided he was going to sleep until it was dark again.

"Obviously not," he grumbled, irritated from being woken up from his nap under the shade, "this is a Shounen manga, not a Seinen. Matsui-sensei would get in trouble if he pulled fanservice further than Irina's existence."

"Did you understand that?" Muramatsu directed his concern to Nagisa.

Nagisa shook his head, resigned, "not at all."

Getting up with a yawn, Nao turned his attention to the hill upward toward the sports storage shed-- a bright yellow octopus and a blonde babe didn't mix well as a pair, but there they were, arm in arm, fawning over each other as they made their merry way toward the storage shed.

"Sorry," Karasuma sighed, reluctance in his tone as well as he viewed the very dissatisfying scene, "I'm under orders from the government to leave matters entirely to her, as a professional."

 _A professional,_  Nao repeated in his head. 

"She sure doesn't seem like it," Terasaka grumbled.

Nao couldn't suppress the laugh, "still, she seems pretty confident."

"That's what we don't like about her, Kuma-sensei," Sugino added with a resigned sigh, twirling the knife in his hand, "she's pretty egocentric."

Karasuma's sigh lined up with Naomasa's, the two teachers meeting eyes in ironic confusion.

"Still, to complete her preparations in one day--" Karasuma muttered, "there's no denying that's she's a top class hitman."

Nao stood up, making his way over. He placed a hand at Karma's shoulder (I mean, for no real reason, he was just there), and chuckled weakly to the statement.

"In a way, she's kinda like Akabane, isn't she?" Nao joked.

Irritated, Karma poked the teacher in the cheek with his anti-sensei knife, "you might need an optometrist, sir, Bitch-neesan and I have virtually nothing in common."

He was annoyed, but he wasn't physically threatening the teacher in any way.

Nao mused at the calm treatment he was given.

But really, Karma and Irina both failed miserably due to overconfidence-- then are eventually pacified by the overwhelming might that was Korosensei's education. They were very similar.

Nao sighed, considering himself.

"You'll see eventually," he decided.

A crack shattered in the air-- an explosion of gunshots blasted through riveting rifles like firecrackers reverberating through the landmass of the mountain.

Every leaped in fright--  Nao's heart skipped a very unromantic beat as he nearly yelped in surprise.

"Gunshots?" someone piped up, alarmed. 

"It from the shed!" Sugino pointed out, "they just went in, though."

The gunfire was such a loud noise Sugino had to raise his voice a treble to even be audible.

It sounded like wood splintering, glass shattering, bullets ravaging, and gunpowder sizzling. Shimmering in a bright light that erupted from a little flame, Nao was still.

His grip unconsciously tightened around Karma's shoulder-- he felt his blood run cold and his stomach sink in a sort of dismay. Like he was stuck on a roller coaster with his safety belt broken off-- fear.

He felt his heart tightened in a familiar difficulty, and reached up to clenched at it-- an instinct that did not at all ease the pain. His heart hastened heavily, each strum striking him like a weighty mallet, almost painful.

Pupils widening, his breath was ragged-- his hand clutched a little tighter at the fabric, feeling the ache throb at him with each blast of the bombardment.

The sound was hurting his ears with pain that wasn't just physical.

He was frozen-- petrified, trapped in a world that told him, reminded him, warned him, over and over, that there was danger beyond, somewhere. Somewhere, and somewhere near. 

Will it kill him? Hurt him? Take him? Cause him pain? It will-- it might, maybe it didn't-- but what if it did? He was confused, his thoughts were overlapping-- yet, nothing seemed to tell him exactly why he was feeling this way. 

It was scary, and people really didn't know why they feared things. It was unknown, it was scary, and we can do nothing but be scared and hope to run away.

The loud, incoherently crumbling noises filled his mind with nothing but an infinite darkness that trapped him in nothingness. Forever?

He broke free from the entrapment the moment the noise ceased to be. It was like light rushed into his vision again, throwing him back into the reality that he tried to remember he was in.

He found Karma eyeing him with concealed concern-- but the other students had their eyes stuck onto the shed. Nao broke away from Karma, letting out a strangled chortle in an attempt to assure the boy he was alright.

A tortured scream ripped through the air-- a female shriek, agonizing, from the shed-- and Nao had never leaped so hard. 

Suggestive slithering moaning graspy sounds echoed through the shed up the hill. 

Nao closed his eyes, "oh my god," he groaned, voice breaking, "what in the holy hell are they-" Everyone watched from a distance, absolutely exasperated, completely and utterly baffled. 

Nao, his previous bout forgotten, found himself speechless in absolutely horrified bewilderment alongside Karasuma. 

 _Seeing this firsthand makes it so much more stupid_ , Nao grumbled in his head, ready to just go back to sleep so he didn't have to witness this,  _wait, did we ever find out what Korosensei did in there? A massage? A facial? then? was she tentacle porned? was she?_

Curiosity overtaking them, the students ran up the hill to ascertain the situation. Nao stayed in place, wondering if he should resign from his job and face court after all.

  ー  

Sitting in his staffroom, Nao scribbled lesson notes in his free time. His coffee lay cold at the side, his laptop overheated in the long use-- but he simply eyed the white screen, inspiration failing to take him in his work.

His thoughts drifted to just a while ago-- his heart had acted up when the guns fired out. That wasn't normal, Nao knew-- something was wrong. With him.

 **Hole in the heart** , Nao typed into his computer, sighing.

 _How did he die again?_  he found himself wondering. An electric telephone wire flew down at her in a storm-- slicing at her right at the shoulder.  _She died by electrocution._

**Electrocuted instant death occurs when a electric shock too strong flows through the body, interrupting the process of the synapse and electrical impulses to be sent-- and would interfere with normal bodily functions, such as the signal to keep the heart beating.**

Nao gulped, realizing the coincidence-- the cause of his death and this condition in his new life--  _were they linked, somehow?_

_No, it couldn't be, right?_

But that didn't explain why Nao felt his heart tighten at the guns.

He stayed still for a long, long moment, thinking of everything and nothing-- then sighed, calming himself. Stilling his breath, loosening his chest.

I shouldn't overthink this, Nao reminded himself.

He was just scared, he realized. Like how he was Astraphobic-- harboring a fear of thunder because of her death; Nao realized that he could no longer bear loud noises either-- because they reminded him so, so much of the thunder that roared on the very same night.

 **Sonophobia** , Nao remembered the word now.

Clicking to save the document, he closed the window and shut down the device.

"Fuck this shit," he swore under his breath, the very first time in a while-- "screw this second life thing, afterlife god's way too fuckin' extra, is he a kid with no common sense?!"

 


	9. give me your heart, literally.

"To tell the truth, we need you back in here as soon as you can," the voice on the other end of the phone spoke to his sternly, "get your next day off. Actually, come right now."

"Matsukawa-sensei, I'm telling you, you don't just call me in the middle of school and tell me you need an emergency appointment right away," Nao groaned, nursing a headache building up, "sick leaves don't work that way and-- no, you called me in yesterday. I'm not going. No. I came up here for class, you're not getting me down the mountain before it happens. I don't care if you're a doctor, screw you. I don't give a fu--"

"Hey, language in the staffroom, Kunomasu-sensei!" Korosensei materialized.

"Oh jesus lord--" Nao stepped away in surprise at the yellow thing's sudden teleportation jutsu, "hey, privacy in a phone call, octopus!" 

"You're mean!" Korosensei retorted, "this is an educational platform and proper conduct should be observed--"

"Another word," Nao glared, "and I'm throwing grape juice on you, mollusc."

"It's a criminal!" Korosensei shrieked in fear, "I'm being threatened!"

ー

"Hmm," Nao mumbled, "since Terasaka, Maehara, Mimura, Nakamura and Yoshida didn't get their work done on time, what do you guys suggest we do to them?"

The class went nervously silent.

Nao folded his arms, eyeing the five questionably and contemplatively. He wasn't trying to be threatening, but he wasn't in the greatest of moods.

He was having difficulty focusing, especially since he was currently ignoring a hospital summons for a session of class. He decided to go right after school hours ended, but still--

Karma raised his hand.

"Can we hang them upside down?" he suggested jokingly.

Nao took the response quite acceptingly, nodding once to acknowledge, "that sounds great and all, but Terasaka would be a hassle to hang. Any other suggestions?"

The class sank into horror. Did Naomasa just take Karma's joke seriously? 

In contrast to the class, Karma was highly amused. "Then, wasabi-" 

"Stop, Karma!" Sugino panicked, raising a concerned tone toward his teacher, "Kuma-sensei, are you alright? You've been out of it all day today."

Nao flinched, gripping the corners of the teacher's desk in an attempt to remind himself he was currently at work.

Biting his lip, he forced out a smile.

"Well, punishments need to be educational--" he chuckled dryly, "since we're a Japanese Lesson, I want all of you to write a three-page reflective essay, and hand it in by tomorrow along with all the work you owe me."

This erected a surprised gasp from the five.

"Understand?" Nao smiled.

  ー  

Naomasa sighed. 

 _Well, they can probably do it if they try. How else are they gonna improve?_  Language had no level-up function, unlike Math or Science.

Closing the door behind him, Nao made his way back to the staffroom. His phone buzzed like an old car on his desk, but he didn't bother picking it up.

Irina sat two tables down, near exploding from the annoying noise.

Nao watched the phone ring like the uncaring irresponsible human he was. He glared at the phone, at the screen that told him Doctor Matsukawa was calling him. It told him it was the thirtieth missed call. Another call came.

Nao glowered at the phone as if it was a poisonous piece of shit, slouching at his chair and not making any move to take the phone that was within arm's reach of him.

Korosensei trembled in the corner, fearful.

"PICK IT UP!" Irina yelled.

Nao jumped in absolute horror, his heart skipping a beat painfully at the sudden noise. 

The call stopped ringing-- Nao turned to it, confused.

A message notification ringtone chimed.

** _Message from Doctor Matsukawa._ **

Picking it up carefully, Naomasa gulped nervously as he clicked on the button to read it.

_**I'll tell Ms Sakurai.** _

Naomasa paled. Dropping everything on hand, he leaped off the chair, gathered his things, and called back telling the doctor he'll be in the hospital right away.

  ー  

"Seriously, are you a kid? Go to your checkups regularly!" Dr Matsukawa reprimanded the teacher, "this time it's serious!"

Matsukawa was an older man, looking a little rough and sporting a scar on his face like a typical gang boss leader or something. He folded his arms, displeasure marring his expressions as he looked like he was ready to chew Nao's head off.

"I mean, every time I come in here you tell me something's bad," Nao grumbled rebelliously, "I don't see the point in getting some lame treatment if all you're gonna do is tell me I need more. Also, I don't like your face."

Matsukawa sighed in resignation. He officially gives up.

"Well, you're not wrong," he decided to say, erected a disgusted scowl from Nao. Matsukawa slides a lollipop in his mouth, casting a side glance to his monitor and the papers strewn about his desk, "I'm sorry to say but-- we think you've got another hole in your heart."

_...Uh,_

"Sorry," Nao laughed nervously, "did I hear that right?"

"Your heart has a hole in it," Matsukawa repeated absent-mindedly, gathering the stuff on his desk to make the area neat, "a ventricular septal defect. the septum, the wall that separates your left and right heart chambers have a gap in it because--"

"Stop copying things off the internet, author!" Nao snapped, "I've heard that a ton of times, doc. Too many times to goddamn count-- what on earth is going on?"

This wasn't the first time.

A decade or two ago, this same event occurred to Naomasa. At that time, they simply had a surgical closure to due with the issue. 

It was a defect from birth, Matsukawa had told him at the time. They had done the surgery twice in the span of the first eight years of his life.

"Look, I ain't taking this bullshit any longer," Nao stood up, "this ain't normal."

A hole in the heart was a defect most survived with no lasting issues. For it to reopen, twice? It would either be a shitty doctor or a shitty god. Hell, it can reopen?

"You _aren't_  normal!" Matsukawa raised his voice, "look, we're trying to figure out just what is wrong here. I promise it won't take too long, just--"

"That's what you tell me every time!" Nao yelled, fists crashing against the table.

This was exactly why he hated hospitals so, so much. They never brought in good news for him. They never told him anything about him getting better-- only about things turning for the worse. It was like the hospital was constantly sending him portents of just how much he wasn't allowed to live long in this world.

And this world wasn't even fucking real.

His heart throbbed, ached, cracked in agony that he was trying to ignore. He wasn't angry-- just disappointed. Upset. So, so, grievous. His chest swelled with a burning ache, as if it was crying even before the tears could reach his eyes.

This wasn't fair.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" he wanted to give up, "stop wasting some petty cash on someone who will never be healed... can't we?"

Matsukawa crunched the lollipop in his mouth.

"You are my patient, and I've been put in charge of you and your stupid heart," he growled, evidently very, very angered, "so if you say anything more than that, I'm signing you up with a counselor, Naomasa."

Nao knew that was a kind gesture to the doctor. A harsh gentleness, a conflicting oxymoron in the doctor that spoke a hundred emotions that came out in a way that wasn't meant to hurt.

Matsukawa was a stern, serious man that did his very best in anything he did. He was strong-willed and shed no wasted tears. He was the best cardiologist in the hospital, some said-- btu he really didn't act like it.

His crass words always made Naomasa stand up strong against the gales-- but never left him without a wound.

He didn't deny at all that Naomasa was without hope.

And beyond anything else Matsukawa had ever said-- that hurt him a lot.

 


	10. strange ways to skip assembly.

"Holding down the fort, ma'am?" Nao called out soggily to the female teacher impatiently tapping beats at the windowsill.

"That Karasuma told me to stay," Irina growled rebelliously, " treating me as if I'm something feral, how dare he!"

Nao let out a hearty laugh, dropping his bottle on the table and pulling out a chair.

The kids were down the hill, hanging by main campus for what was their once-in-a-month school assembly. Karasuma had followed after as their chaperone and representative homeroom teacher, but he had given the female teacher stern reminders to  _not go down_.

"What about you, not going?" Irina cast a cold glance over.

Nao raised an eyebrow at that. Irina hadn't much talked to him after their very first conversation-- one of an uninterested assassin speaking to a gullible civilian-- so to think irina was bringing up a conversation to him?

Irina had slowly transitioned into being a part of the class, but her first impression with Naomasa was one thing she had yet to fix. Maybe this was her first step.

"I won't be able to make the trip down and back up, so," Nao sighed, "I thought I'd join our mollusc friend for a chat of some sort, but he's nowhere to be seen either."

Irina hummed, not too amused. It was normal and boring, mundane. Did Kunomasu Naomasa ever have anything interesting going on with his life?

With a speedy octopus, a government combat agent and a high-class assassin as teachers, the normalcy of this teacher was something that stood out like a sore thumb. It was debatable if he even was necessary in their course. After all, with the careful balance of student-assassin teacher-target relationship in this school, Naomasa's presence may end up toppling the scales.

"Wait--" the thought suddenly hit her, "where's the squid?"

"He's an octopus, Ms Jelavic," Nao perked up lazily, eating something with a spoon--  _was that ice cream? Where'd he get that_ \-- "and I said, I couldn't find him, so,"

"He RAN!!" it hit her like a screaming train. When did that happen? Well, she wasn't exactly in charge of looking after the target but still,  _she_ was told to stay home _why did he get to go_ \-- "that's unfair! I'm going down there too!"

"For all we know, he could've just made a run to Bohemia or something, but--" Naomasa mumbled after the woman who was stomping right out the door, "--and, she's gone."

  ー  

Taking another scoop of the strawberry ice cream he stole from Korosensei's ice box stash, he hummed, finding the situation all but amusing.

This situation seemed familiar.  _Oh, is this the episode that--_

"Oh! what's that, Kuma-sensei?" Karma came hanging by the window, leaning over casually as he cheerfully piped up.

Nao leaped, heart skipping a not-so-happy beat at the sudden ambush. Because holy  _hell_  if you were on  _an isolated mountain building_  thinking no one's around and  _suddenly_  a voice just comes out of _nowhere_  who  _does not just scream and freak out_ \--

"A-Akabane..." he held a hand over his chest, trying to calm the racing staccato of his frightened heart, "where did you come from?"

"I was sleepin' over there," he jabbed a thumb in a random direction, "what's that?"

 _Oh, right,_ Nao recalled, _he skipped out on this supposedly compulsory assembly._

"Check out the Octopus' desk," Nao gestured with his chin, "hidden in the second drawer, under the secret compartment."

"Oh, sweet!" Karma clambered in, "you found where he hid it?"

"Shoes off, red devil," Nao murmured absent-mindedly, taking another generous scoop and swinging it under his tongue, "that Octopus can't lie for the life of him. Hush though, not a word about what I'm eating here."

Karma found himself a spot on Karasuma's seat, having dug up vanilla ice cream to match his daily dose of strawberry milk. Digging in quickly and excitedly like a child with a new candy, Naomasa found this side of the boy oddly endearing to witness.

"What're ya staring at?" Karma's attention swung to the teacher, who seemed surprised to have met his eyes. 

A smile crawled up. "No, just thinking that it's nice to just laze about sometimes," Nao sighed, "carefree, without worry."

Karma leaned in his seat, contemplative. He eyed the teacher as if carious-- yet, he made no move to show hostility against the teacher.

"What's that look for?" Nao chuckled.

"Kuma-sensei, you're a strange person," Karma's words surprised Naomasa-- "you always seem so deep in thought, so honest and yet so deceptive-- you talk like you know a lot, but at the same time, you seem to know little about a lot of things, too."

"Well, if that ain't an oxymoron," the teacher sighed. "You're being quite ambiguous, Akabane, it's hard to catch the point you're bringing across."

Karma seemed to laugh right back at that, "well, that's exactly how I feel about you, sensei!"

His cheer brought Nao's mood crashing right back down.

Ambiguous, obscure, and unsettling. Conflicting and elusive-- ah, was that what Karma felt about him? Or maybe it was something less negative. Something less... dissenting.

"You were on campus with the rest of those... that society," Karma chose his words carefully, "but you didn't fit in. You were the one teacher that had sanity, surrounded by the insane."

Nao gulped. Karma's eyes were sharp, gold and cold.

"Even up here, you're pretty much the same-- you're the reason in the madness. But a different kind of craziness, if you get what I mean," Karma chortled, amused at his own comparisons, "it's hard to say you fit right in here with the all of us."

Nao clenched his fist.

 _Yeah_ , he internally acknowledged,  _I don't belong here._

_I was never supposed to make it up this mountain. To slot myself into this classroom that's so much complete as it already is. To become the odd one out that contributes nothing to this storyline-- I'm quite an unnecessary cog in this mechanism called the Assassination Classroom--_

"Hey, sensei," Karma's voice sang in a sort of childish curiosity. Was he being mean? Was he being a bully? It was hard to tell-- maybe he was just being the blunt and honest smartass he was. And Nao was just an interesting specimen to him. 

Nao felt torn.

"Kuma-sensei, where on earth  _could_  you fit into?"

The ice cream in his hands had melted. All left of it was the milky, pink shade of manufactured pigments, and the strawberry-like sweetness of artificial flavours.

 _I don't know_ , he realized.

_Where can I ever fit into, in this world?_

She was dead, brought to life as another person. Among everything, that was anomalous. yeah, it sounded like a totally different kind of story. Even his  _genre_  stood out as alien in this world.

Nothing he had fit in.

He was a complete  _outsider_.

"That's everyone's mission in life, Akabane," he scrounged for a teacher-like answer, keeping his calm, steadying his heart, "to look for their place in this world. I'm probably still trying to get there, y'know?"

His speech was fast. Rapid-- discomposed. If he looked up at the boy, perhaps, he would realize that he was near tears.

"That's super cheesy," Karma blanched.

And regardless of Nao's emotional discourse, they both busted into laughter, mutually acknowledging just how  _awkward_   the previous conversation had flowed. Seriously, they were never going to do that again.

  ー  

"Seven days. That's how long I want you to stay in the hospital," Matsukawa was firm and accepting no rebuttal.

But Naomasa was going to give one anyways, "my students have their mid terms coming right up and--"

"Well, get a replacement," Matsukawa threw his hands up, exasperated.

"It doesn't work that way, you want me in **tomorrow** ," Naomasa argued, pointing rudely, "you're supposed to hand in a letter of advance notice a week--"

"Ah, yes, that's about the time since my first call getting you in here," Matsukawa growled, "your  **students** ," he repeated, "are of lower priority than your  **heart.** "

"My heart isn't giving me nearly as many problems as my students right now!" Naomasa growled right back.

"So you would rather it start killing you before you start crawling in here?" Matsukawa raised his tone, "fuck-- I've contacted your boss and he's given me the green light!"

"You called my-  _what?!"_   Nao jumped right up, "You called the Principal? _Matsukawa_ , I'll have you know that  _that man_ \--"

"Told me that your class has got teachers well capable of handling the language classes you're dealing with," Matsukawa gritted his teeth.

Nao flinched, realizing that that wasn't all that false. Irina could handle English-- and to begin with, Korosensei would be adapting the studies to a cram session from now on anyways--

Sitting down, he begrudgingly gave in.

He really didn't want to sit through the hospital surgery again. A hand clutching over his chest almost instinctively, he let out a shaky breath.

"Alright, then," he resigned himself.

 


	11. and he takes a sudden leave of absence.

It wasn't hard to notice him gone.

Nearly two minutes into Korosensei's unnecessary duplication techniques, Kanzaki Yukiko found the lack of a teacher unnerving.

"Is... Kuma-sensei off work today?" she asked, raising her hand hesitantly. 

Despite his poor health, Kanzaki fails to remember a day in the main building where Kunomasu Naomasa missed a day of work. Not even for a sick leave... or perhaps it was just her that didn't notice. The teacher never missed classes much.

"About that, I'm not so sure," Korosensei turned, all of his heads turning in the direction of the girl, erecting a few squeaks, "there's been no contact from him."

"Did he run?" Maehara jokingly suggested.

"Playing truant?" Nakamura chuckled, "well, he seems the type!"

"Or maybe he got tired of us fools," Terasaka groaned.

"Hey, hey, Kuma-sensei isn't that kind of person!" Sugino responded, almost offended. "He's a nice person."

Muramatsu scoffed, "nice person, but still a member of the faculty under  _that_  principal."

"C'mon, guys, he's probably just stuck halfway up the mountain again," Kimura sighed, resigned at the passive argument going on behind him.

"Or a family emergency?" Yada suggested, "or maybe those checkups he's always complaining about."

"He would've contacted Karasuma-sensei for that, right?" Nagisa was beginning to doubt, too, "maybe he got caught up somewhere again..."

"What if his heart acted up again?" Isogai sounded concerned, "that'd be disastrous--"

"Now, now!" Korosensei raised his voice a little above the commotion, all doubles raising a finger to shush the students, "I'm sure he's alright. I've had Karasuma-san locate him for the moment, so let's get back to our cram session, shall we?"

Unease was still settled around-- it was strange without him around. He left early from classes plenty of times, or showed up late, but none of the students really thought much about it, knowing the teacher had a health issue to be concerned for.

Kanzaki Yukiko fingered the cover of a book under her desk, a little forlorn. Well, she guessed the story she wanted to share with him would have to wait.

  ー  

It wasn't until later, when their principal (making an unexpected visit to see Mr billion bounty octopus) told them about Kuma-sensei's hospitalisation, that they found out the reason behind his absence.

It was easy to forget that Naomasa was a crippled man. That he couldn't do many things an average adult man could do. Karasuma may have given them a false hope of normalcy, but the truth lay in the fact the man was a prime military agent.

Naomasa, too, was past the point of normalcy in his own way.

"Is he gonna die?" when Okajima voiced the thought, everyone snapped at him for saying such remorseful words. 

"He's better off not coming by too often, anyways," Yoshida sighed, "y'know, his reputation as an elite teacher and all that."

"Aren't we over this, guys?" Kataoka groaned, "Kuma-sensei isn't like the rest of the teachers in main campus, and we know that firsthand."

"They're not wrong about it being better with him not coming, though," Isogai stated meaningfully, "people with heart diseases are told to exercise regularly-- but to Kuma-sensei, I feel like it just has the opposite effect."

It wasn't hard to forget that Naomasa had a heart impairment.

He acted normal, common, and perhaps, what a modern day student would call a 'typical' teacher. Sometimes, he'd just be on the verge of death, or other times, he seemed to be going for more checkups than his smiles said he needed.

"It's like the more he exercises the more he looked like he's going to kick the bucket?" Maehara laughed, agreeing.

"That's because he doesn't know how to regulate his exercise," Kayano giggled. 

Naomasa was a figure that melded into the background for them. It seemed like nothing would change if he were here-- but if he weren't, something was just _missing_.

Whether the missing bit was a good or bad one, it probably differed from each person's perspective of him. 

In this idiosyncratic classroom, plagued by paranormal episodes, Naomasa was a figure that reminded them that they were  _students_. In this accursed school, ruled by the reprehensible principal and chained by the shackles trashed standards.

Some wanted to forget. To spend this last year up here, having their kind of fun. Stay in the dumps, and think about going, or not going, to high school when they get there.

But Naomasa's presence forced them to remember.

Even though they were the vermin of the school-- this teacher was trying to yank their grades up, like Korosensei himself. Unlike Irina, though, Naomasa taught purely academic-related stuff. He went off the rails a few times, but nothing was going to be as 'useful' as Bitch-sensei's fluency speech lessons.

_Even though they were the E class, y'know?_

  ー  

"Did you hear? There's a huge tornado up on the mountain adjacent to Kunugigaoka Junior High!" the nurse told me almost excitedly, "it's crazy!"

Naomasa nearly spat out his tea in surprise.

"What?!"

Looking out the window, Nao sucked in a sob. Oh, he was missing out! He wanted to watch this--  _no, he didn't. He's more than glad to be away from up there_ \-- ugh, he needed to decide.

A single flap of a butterfly wing can cause a typhoon in the next continent.

Nao originally didn't want to go up there in fear of this-- the butterfly effect. What would change if Nao interfered? Would someone's grades slip from the top fifty? Would someone decide to leave or stay after achieving something better? Would they alter their career paths due to his influence?

It would be ideal if it was something as trivial as that. 

Nao feared to think what would happen if he altered the events of the Death God's arrival-- or even, Korosensei's death itself.

Thus far, his presence itself hadn't caused any alterations-- if the tornado was happening, that was a relief. It meant that the world was not shattering apart from its borders. It meant things were still going as they should be.

Nao gripped the sheets of his hospital bed-- realizing just how much he'd hate to see Korosensei die again. But he couldn't say that he wanted to see him live, either.

If Korosensei had survived that day-- nothing would be the same. Sure, he would be there, but no one could say if this was a good or bad choice. Would Nagisa's parents have bonded together? Would the E class students have received their needed 'liberation' from the press? Would the government have left the target be?

Even if Nao thought about it, he didn't know a way to truly get Korosensei away from school alive. He didn't know a way that would give them the happily ever after Kayano deserved.

A tornado spun in the air, brewed by righteous anger, fueled by a fatherly love for his students.

As Nao gazed upon it, he almost wished he were there, standing beside them, listening to those words again. Perhaps not as a teacher-- but as a student.

If Nao had gotten a teacher like him in his youth-- perhaps he would have turned out a little different from himself now. Perhaps he would have had a different outlook on life.

Or perhaps, he would be a changed person at the end of the story.

Chuckling, Naomasa could only imagine.

 _I'll be back there in a week_ , he assured himself.

_I can wait that long._

 


	12. the impression in his eyes, they've seen death.

"You look happy," Irina observed. 

"Trust me, I feel absolutely liberated!" Naomasa stretched, standing over the hill and breathing in the fresh air. "Freedom!" he declared.

"You're not worried about the kids?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, "Karasuma told you about the wager that dumb octopus threw at them, didn't he?"

Irina cast a glance at Karasuma, who nodded.

"It'll be fine," Naomasa responded. "I can kind of guess what will happen, so... just, you don't need to worry about it."

"We do!" Irina groaned, "this puts the earth at stake, y'know?"

Naomasa laughed nervously, "well, worrying will get you nowhere!"

Karasuma coughed for attention, "last I've heard, people usually take a few days of rest at home before they begin their lives again," he mumbled, "and seeing as you've had the luxury of riding a human-cart up the mountain today, I strongly believe you should have stayed home."

"Wow, that's the longest sentence you've spoken to me, Karasuma-san," Nao's smile was still facing to the lush greenery, "and with all due respect,  _ **hell**_  no. The cart was made for me, I'm just allowing my student's kind hearts to shine."  Cue a boisterous laugh.

Karasuma looked irritated.

Nao sighed, easing his adrenaline rush. "My muscles are all sore and painful from being forced on a bed all week. I deserve a little breather, don't I?" he chuckled, "the kids are facing hell down there in the building of suffocation, and I'm still on sick leave so I'm free!"

Nao stepped onto the grassy hill, skidding down to the valley and making his way toward the trees, deciding to take a little adventure in the woods while he could. 

He was sluggish and his steps ached, muscles struggling to cope with the lack of exercise, hurting from the weight of his own body. Maybe it was because he was never really a fit person-- a weak in bed gave him muscle sores. His legs were trying to remember how to work now.

"I'm not too clear on how a civilian human views bedrest, but I'm quite sure you're abnormal," Irina grumbled, throwing her voice as Nao wandered deeper into the forest, "do you want to land yourself right back in?"

Nao swung back, mortified. "Ugh, hell no," he was actually shrinking with cringe, "never again. I got blackmailed this time, y'know? I'm not going back there again if my life depends on it."

"Ungrateful spoiled brat," Irina seethed.

Karasuma had a feeling that Naomasa was serious, but the fact wasn't something the young teacher could choose. Nao would go back to the hospital soon, whether he liked it or not.

For Irina, who grew up in a harsh environment where medical needs were never tolerated-- she felt Nao was rather heedless and unappreciative of what he was given.

"Does your life really mean so little to you?" she asked, a little irked.

At that-- Nao seemed to stop his pace. His smile was gone when Karasuma saw him next-- and his tone was a mellow, empty tone neither of them had heard from the man before. 

"My bad," his voice was a little cold, "it's a little hard to try and live when everyone keeps telling you you're going to die soon."

Karasuma winced. Irina cringed.

"I strive for a short and sweet life!" Nao laughed, smile curling back on his face, "unhealthy habits are fun, y'know?"

"That's exactly why your doctor's hounding you!" Irina retorted.

Karasuma found himself empathizing with whoever was the doctor of this childish man. Naomasa had no concept of self-preservation at all.

The man's shoes crunched against the leaves as he ventured deeper into the forest, on some kind of research adventure. His sleeves were rolled up, his tie was never there. His hair, a shade of light brown that was hastily brushed back with a clumsy amount of gel. 

And the smile on his face.

Easygoing and seemingly without worries, Karasuma came to realize that this man was an eccentric one. Wearing unreadable intentions, and basking in the background scenery, Naomasa was part of nature. He did nothing new when he was there-- but while absent, something would feel missing.

Or maybe, he was just hard to forget. There were only a handful of teachers up on this hill, after all.

When Naomasa began to disappear into the woods, Karasuma found himself trailing after the man, deciding to be a chaperone in case he lost his way.

  ー  

Irina never liked Naomasa. From the start, he gave her the creeps. Wearing the face of a declawed cat, but acting like a fox. 

She branded him a weakling, and she really wasn't wrong. 

He was a mediocre teacher, a mediocre person. There was nothing that stood out of the man aside from his strange confidence against paranormal occurrences.

She didn't want to get too involved with that man-- after all, this was just a mission to assassinate the octopus, and after that, she'll just leave.

But she hasn't been able to do that-- and now, she's stuck with the flow of events that was pulling her into making themselves a relationship at least as colleagues.

There was nothing they had in common. At least with Karasuma, they had skills, experiences, and their professionalism to share. With Naomasa? Irina barely understood him! 

It was hard to respect him, yet, it was difficult to ignore him.

**"It's a little hard to try and live when everyone keeps telling you you're going to die soon."**

That phrase hit home to her, and she felt it ache in her chest. It was a dog-eat-dog world she resided in-- she knew how it was to be helpless against the tides of fate.

But unlike him, Irina Jelavic didn't give up.

That was what she **loathed** about him.

Gripping the rubber anti-octopus knife, she let out a breath of grunted anger. She had some steam to let off now, and she was going to have that octopus be target practice for a bit.

  ー  

"Kunomasu-sensei, no ice cream for you!" Korosensei reprimanded, zapping the cup right out of Naomasa's hands, depositing the spoon in his own... nonexistent... mouth.

"Hey, I was half way through that!" Nao raised his voice, upset, "it's my first strawberry ice cream in a week, c'mon!"

"You have just been released from the hospital, young man," Korosensei began reprimanding the brunet, "the last thing anyone needs is your surgery to have complications because your blood sugar's spiked."

"Well, you're raising my blood pressure," Nao whined, "return it."

"I refuse!" Korosensei threw it, cup and all, into his mouth. "You seem to call for a lecture on healthy dietary habits! You are an adult, Kunomasu-sensei!"

That seemed to make Nao sigh in resignation, turning away from the octopus and his lost ice cream. He fixed his eyes on his laptop screen, to the blank worksheet he was working on.

 _Adult, huh_ , it made him think. It was nice to act spoiled and bratty, but the fact was that he was in his late twenties. He was a teacher, not a student. An adult, not a baby.

"So," Nao turned to the teacher, who was starting to rant off about the food pyramid and vitamins, "I heard you made a bet with the students."

He turned toward the window, to the new field outside, the aftermath of the tornado a few days back. A breeze blew in, and Nao stepped over to the windowsill, looking outside.

"If they don't place in the fifties, you'll leave?" he questioned the teacher.

"Indeed, that is what I have promised," Korosensei responded without missing a beat. "The students were missing something fundamental in themselves-- simply put, they lacked the confidence and the desire to go on to their futures."

Futures, Naomasa smiled, "the mentality of the E-as-in-End class brought them all down, eh?" he chuckled, "I admire that you are making something of it."

Korosensei went silent at that.

"Kunomasu-sensei," he spoke up carefully, "I have come to believe that you have sunk to the same state of mind as the students."

Naomasa's smile fell-- and he turned to face the teacher.

"You do not see your future," Korosensei stated his observation calmly, "and seem to dwell on the longing for thoughts like 'I hope this time would last forever', and 'it would be fine if things stayed as they were', down in the depths and without improvement."

Naomasa listened, an unreadable expression marring his features. He leaned back on the windowsill-- and kept his gaze on the teacher, who stared back with equally empty eyes.

"You do not hold any desire to participate in the assassination the class strive for--" Korosensei raised a tentacle finger, "my bounty-- and the Earth's destruction-- you hold no desire for money, and perhaps, you would have no wishes even if the world were to end tomorrow."

Korosensei was silent now, expecting Nao to talk.

And Naomasa did.

"You can't lecture me," Nao's voice was almost annoyed, satiric-- "you'd be a hypocrite."

Korosensei flinched, shrinking back as Nao raised his eyes in a wild glare.

"You came here, telling people to kill you, mocking the government and making yourself the martyr of the world," Naomasa put a hand at his own chest, "and without telling anyone why, you are a teacher, trying to lead a bunch of hopeless children to their potential."

Korosensei didn't look faltered-- but his expressions were always changeless.

"You don't think you'll die, so you embrace the people trying to kill you every day," Nao's voice was softening, emotions permeating in an outburst, "tell me-- if you end up getting killed tomorrow, would you have any last wishes?"

It was a rhetorical question-- because the answer was evidently a  **no**.

"You and I... we're the same," Nao clenched his shirt, grasping at his heart from the outside, "we have nothing to lose and little to regret."

He bit his lip-- he was trying not to cry.

"You live and walk with death," Nao spoke, "so you're not scared of it. In fact, you're just sitting there, waiting for the day the  _actual_  god of death comes to take you. You'd gladly take the Earth with you, too. How is that anything different from what I, and what the students, are doing?" 

Naomasa sucked in a deep breath-- and forced a smile on his features. His hand clenched over his heart, he faced the Octopus-- an unhappy smile to an unhappy smile.

"I'm not the smartest, sir-- but if I know something," Nao told the teacher, "it's the fact that, if I die-- you and your explosion won't be the one to kill me."

Nao had to stop himself there, the voice hitching in his throat, the pain growing in his heart, and the burn in his eyes threatening to show those pathetic, pathetic tears. 

If he was going to hurt this much, he wouldn't have said this at all.

But he did, and now, he was going to forget it and pretend nothing happened. Things will go back to normal tomorrow-- and even if it wouldn't, Nao was going to pretend it was.

That was how life in this world worked for him.

Putting his hand down, Nao walked past Korosensei, and pushed the chair of his desk in. 

"We're not having classes today, so I guess it's about time I start heading home," Nao spoke almost too casually, smiling his usual joyful farce and packing his stuff. 

He threw his back over one shoulder, and turned back to the Octopus, brightly.

"See you tomorrow, sir!"

And he simply left.

 


	13. in the end, he is an educational professor.

"So, Akabane..." Naomasa scrutinized the boy sternly, "for this term, your Japanese and English grades were the highest in our class. Actually, you had everything best in class, that's splendid."

On the table before them, five papers were strewn clearly over the top, showing each subject and respective grades given.

Karma stood casually, but there was that stiff tension in his shoulders, and his usual proud smile wasn't there. 

Naomasa gazed down at him, almost disappointed.

"Look here, Akabane," Nao placed his hand on the English paper-- "you made four spelling errors, two of which are basic words. And here--" he gestured at the Japanese paper, "a grammatical error."

The air was thick, and cold sweat dripped.

"Frankly," Naomasa mumbled, "these were mistakes that could've been easily solved if you'd given your paper a once-over, but you neglected to."

Karma's chin drooped, and Naomasa caught him swallowing nervously.

"Which basically, I infer--" Naomasa crossed his arms, "you would've gotten perfect grades on these two subjects."

No one moved, terrified of the growing anger bubbling right out of the teacher. It was rare to see him that irritated, disappointed-- 

In a way, Nao was just like the teachers in main campus. Grades were an important factor in life, more important in Kunugigaoka Junior High. Those who were taught by him before knew just how impatient Nao could get when it came to studies. 

If he wasn't angrily reprimanding you for your lack of serious attitude, he was giving up on you and deciding you a lost cause. It was tough to say which was worse, but here Karma quite preferred the latter. 

"In conclusion--" Nao's eyes shot into a glare, erecting a flinch from the redhead-- 

Naomasa snatched the papers right off the table, throwing them into the air.

"You're a prodigious asshole!" Naomasa declared, raising his hand and pointing at the boy, "those who hate Akabane, throw an eraser at him!" 

"Huh?" Karma was baffled, "wait--"

The class _rioted_ , and erasers showered on the red-haired punk.

Naomasa boisterously laughed, and the class bolted around, hunting for every eraser they could find.

Nagisa was so taken aback, _"what is this."_

Kayano was too surprised to compose a reaction. Her face was frozen in  _pardon my japanoexcuseme but_ , not even knowing how people were supposed to respond to this situation.

Everyone bolted right out of their seats, laughing as they picked up erasers and aimed at the boy that was top of their class, finding humour in the suddenly provided opportunity.

Another thing many people who were taught by Naomasa know--  **was that he hated gloomy expressions.**  Sullen students were a contemporary existence after every term examinations-- as such, he'd always do something unexpected to lift their spirits.

Outside the door, Karasuma sighed.

  ー  

"What, here I thought everyone's grades were rock bottom," Nao went around class, taking a peek at everyone's report cards, "Nagisa's risen from previous term, that's awesome!"

Nagisa shrank, unsure of that-- he was 105th among 186 students-- that was in the loser pedestal. In Kunugigaoka standards, that was still quite terrible.

"Oh, Terasaka's 159th?" he announced.

"HEY! who said you could look--" Terasaka shot back, angered.

"Terasaka's the lowest in class," Naomasa was still smiling, "so doesn't that mean you've won against twenty-seven of those main campus dolts?" 

He went silent.

" **Despite being Class E** , right?" Naomasa smiled.

Being him, Yoshida cracked into a little chuckle. 

"Kuma-sensei, you're so positive, huh," Hazama stated her observation with the tone of a tired corpse, "even though you're entirely negative about everything else."

"Well, that's quite rude of you," Naomasa straightened his back, speaking obnoxiously with a smirk on his face, "I'm rather positive about everything negative, too."

When a few others started laughing, Naomasa almost smiled victoriously.

"Grades won't change after exams. Looking at it will only bring you down, and remembering it will eventually consume you," he told the class, taking his place at the front of the room. "Look at it positively, take the mistakes as hearty jokes, and remember each step as a bump in your journey."

The students gazed at their teacher thoughtfully-- considering, deeply.

"I'm not saying this will really help raise your grades or anything!" Naomasa established with a chortle, "it's just more fun that way, right?"

He placed his hand at the blackboard.

"I won't say  _'to hell with grades'_ , because that's just pitifully escaping reality," Naomasa grinned, "but exams are a war game, and to get to the goal most efficiently-- you're supposed to have fun!" he knocked a fist in his own chest, "remember that, alright?"

Somehow-- just somehow, their childish little teacher made them feel a little better. 

Maybe it was the smile he always had on. The positivism he exuded, the bright and joyful air that really made them enjoy his companionship.

Maybe it was his strange way of encouragement, a method the main campus teacher would've scorned. It wasn't a way that chased for results, nor a way that pushed for improvement.

It was a way of enjoyment, of cherishing and finding pleasure even in things they disliked. To go from despise to hate, from hate to dislike, from dislike to obligation, and from obligation to volition.

And they really couldn't hate it.

  ー  

"A second blade?" Nao asked.

Kurahashi Hinano nodded dejectedly, "it's hard to get," she sighed, "Korosensei said we weren't qualified to be assassins, so... it just really makes you realize that this assassin business is more surreal than it seems, y'know?"

Naomasa couldn't suppress the chuckle that rumbled from his throat.

"It's something that's not easy to sink in," he told her, "but at the end of the day, if you pretend this is how it should be, you'll feel much better."

Okano leaned in, interested, "come to think of it, Kuma-sensei wasn't very surprised at Korosensei at all!" she giggled, "even though all of us were so baffled the first couple of days."

"In a way, Korosensei was more surprised by Kuma-sensei than the other way around," Maehara agreed with a chuckle. He picked up a can of coffee from the vending machine, tossing it at the teacher before slipping in coins for another of his own.

"Don't you think it's tiring to always be surprised my something? Ah right, thanks," Naomasa crunched it open, taking a quick sip with gratitude a murmur under his tongue, "my heart can't handle that amount of stress every day, so I've adapted and evolved to survive the change in environment. Remember that, it's biology or something."

"As usual, Kuma-sensei and his textbook answers," Kurahashi sighed, "aren't you more suited to being a biology teacher instead, since you always quote from science?"

"Trust me, Kurahashi, you won't understand a thing of what I'm saying," Naomasa chortled, "mainly because I don't, either."

Okano almost facefaulted, "yet you quote accurately from textbooks," she was bewildered.

"If you hate a subject, and it's not math, crush it into every crevice of your brain and you'll get there somehow," Naomasa told them, "my passion was always for language, so I could compromise on my science and math grades."

At that, Kurahashi seemed to be inspired, "then-- does that mean if I'm not great at languages, I could spin my focus on the other subjects instead?"

"I'm not good at studying, but," Okano supplied carefully, "if I pursue something in athletics and gymnastics, maybe..."

Nao paused, realizing his mistake.

He was a lackadaisical, carefree man that cared not for grades. He closed down paths he didn't like and charged through with the bare minimum, and this wasn't at all an easy route.

Hell, he only agreed to come to Kunugigaoka Junior High because it was the only school that opted to employ him. He would have sold his soul for any other school, but he couldn't keep relying on Ms Sakurai for his living expenses...

The way he was speaking now, he was going to make sure these kids didn't look toward the hardworking route. That was the exact opposite of what Korosensei was doing-- and if anything, made him a nuisance.

"Then--" Maehara was speaking up.

"Of course not!" Nao knocked a book on his head, interrupting him. The knock was gentle and barely felt, but the noise was a loud one.

This spurred the three's attention.

"Your future isn't something you decide on a whim," Naomasa told them, "once you start to think that _you don't need this,_ or  _you don't need that_ \-- your roads will start to close and your future will begin to darken."

Naomasa turned to them, the coffee in his hand saturated with condensation, dripping to his wrist. 

"I decided my passion on my last year of high school, and as you can see, my job's in shambles and my life's been tough to keep going. I'm not earning enough cash and I'm leeching this coffee off from our dear friend Maehara over there."

Maehara tried to tell the teacher that was okay, but Naomasa glared at him.

"So, what I'm saying is, kids," Naomasa grinned, "a passion has to be something you can roll with without affecting the rest of your life. A passion is something that isn't just your hobby, it's also something you derive joy from despite your hobby."

Seeing confused looks, Naomasa laughed. He leaned back, deciding to find an example.

Naomasa put a hand at his chest, "let say-- Takebayashi! He's an otaku, so what's the stereotypical view of his future job?"

Okano was surprised to be pointed at-- so Naomasa was telling her to give an answer.

"Uh," she stuttered, "a mangaka? or an artist, an animation person-- an animator, is that what they're called? I don't really... know Takebayashi that well..."

"Well, that's the most stereotypical view of it..." Kurahashi mumbled. Maehara nodded, subtly agreeing. 

Naomasa chuckled. "Well, if you ask me--" he raised a finger, "Takebayashi has above average grades in Science! well, his other subjects are mediocre but that's besides the point," he smiled, "there's a strong possibility he'll become a world-changing scientist in the future, y'know!"

This caused a sudden silence.

"Huhh," Kurahashi was appalled, "well..."

"It doesn't really seem likely," Maehara admitted.

"I mean, Takebayashi?" Okano eyed her friends, skeptical. "No way."

Naomasa sighed, dejected. "Why do you think that?" After all, it was true that Takebayashi and Okuda would become world-changing scientists...  **oh**.

"We're the E-as-in-End Class, y'know?" Okano told her teacher, "it's hard to think some of us can have such an... incredible profession in the future. Maybe except Karma."

"Okuda seems like she might be able to do it, though!" Kurahashi chimed.

"But she's kinda gullible, no?" Maehara sighed.

"Well, you're a playboy with no other qualities," Kurahashi retorted.

"You're mean," Maehara whimpered.

The E Class mindset, Naomasa couldn't help but sigh at it. While it was true it was difficult to think of their future when their present is grim as hell-- 

"Look, you three," Naomasa almost barked, animosity growling under his tongue, "Kurahashi's approachable and friendly, Okano's a gymnast expert, and Maehara's... well, you're handsome and pretty independent so you'll get by somehow."

"Kuma-sensei, I'm hurt," Maehara sobbed.

"Anyways, you may have ground grades, but that doesn't mean you're without talent," Naomasa told them coldly, "in that sense, you're entirely equal with the students in main campus. Some of you are greatly above them, too."

The three gulped, not at all used to the angered and disappointed look in that teacher's eyes.

"Principal Asano is a smart man. He is raising strong, independent students that can and will essentially live with their lives laid out in front of them," Naomasa established, "but as a result, you guys are rendered worms that have to crawl their way around and barely survive at all. He's closed down your future, and instead of opening those doors, you're simply accepting it. tell me-- who are the more  _pathetic_  ones here?"

The three looked sullen-- but a spark of irritation was in their eyes. Naomasa felt they were ready to fight back, but were biting their tongues in resist.

"That octopus told you guys this," Naomasa put his coffee down, "those who don't wield a  **second blade**  have no right to be the assassins that take his life."

Naomasa put a hand on Maehara's shoulder.

"It applies to life as strongly as it does to assassination," Naomasa spoke sternly, raising a closed fist, "if you keep your eyes on the one goal you hold in your hand, you'll never see the alternatives written on the back of your palm. If you keep thinking to yourself that 'this is the only way', you won't realize when you've gone by too many crossroads to retrace your steps."

When Naomasa looked up at them again, the ire in their eyes were gone, and now, they only had interest. They were filled with aspirations, thoughts, and deep considerations.

"I'm not someone to look up to," Naomasa reminded them, a smirk rising, "after all, I'm a teacher that almost got in trouble for punching a kid's face black and blue!"

Naomasa sipped on his coffee, and gave the three a hasty rub on the head.

"My hair!" Okano freaked out.

"Kuma-sensei, that thing took hours to set this morning--" Maehara mourned.

"Well, my hair's curly, so there's no real difference," Kurahashi mumbled, her hair sticking out in weird places.

"Well, you have the year to think about it!" Naomasa laughed, "and if you can't decide, keep studying and maybe you'll get somewhere! well, that's what I did."

When Naomasa left to return to the staffroom, he had a feeling the three of them were just a little more enlightened than they were before.

The tests were over, after all. 

This was the time for rejoicing and celebrating-- it wasn't the time for sadness and melancholy and future-risking considerations.

 


	14. and so the weak one laments.

_"You want to see me_ **_now_ ** _?"' Naomasa gawked, disbelief slurring right through his tongue, making sure the doctor on the other end really heard the reluctance. "I've got a school trip to make, doctor. Can't we do this after I get back?"_

_"It's urgent," the doctor sternly responded._

_Naomasa didn't like that tone. It didn't have the snarky, talking-down voice Matsukawa usually used. This was almost grim in comparison, demotivated._

_Naomasa had a feeling this really meant he wasn't supposed to fool around now._

_"You aren't going to tell me I can't go, right?" He asked, just in case._

_"I won't," Matsukawa's voice faltered, as if holding back a broken plea, "there'd be no point in it."_

_Naomasa felt his stomach drop in dread._

ー

ー

"Kuma-sensei,  **no**!" Kataoka Megu sharply reprimanded, snatching the soda right out of her teacher's hands, "you had ice cream, a lollipop, and two cans of coffee! that's enough sugar for you, sir!"

Nao made a noise a mixture of a cry and a grumble, then sobbed, "but..."

Kataoka glanced at her teacher condescendingly, almost motherly, her hand at her hip and the other clutching the fizzy drink.

"It'll be dangerous if your blood sugar or pressure goes up, y'know?" Okano Hinata scolded him, "you have to take care of yourself more!"

Nao drooped his head, solemnly complying, "it's like I have two new mothers," he whined.

A tentacle slithered past them, and before they realized, the soda was gone from Kataoka's hand. 

"Nurufufufu!" the octopus snickered, sipping on a drink that wasn't his, "too much sugar would be bad for you, Kuma-sensei!"

"The fact that  _you_  are telling me that pisses me off," Naomasa pouted. "And I paid for that! Return it!"

"You've stolen plenty of my  _gelato_  too," the creature retorted easily.

"Tsk," Naomasa clicked his tongue. "I'll get you back for this one day, octopus."

Korosensei merely Nurufufufu-ed in his corner.

"Your laugh is just some KHR ripoff," Nao sneered.

"I have no idea what that is, but I'm not a ripoff!" Korosensei snapped right back.

"I wonder if there's an Octopus Fruit in One Piece," Nao grumbled under his breath, going into an even softer grumble at "it'd fit him perfectly because they both can't swim."

He wondered if Korosensei heard that, but Nao didn't mind.

He did notice Korosensei's eyes narrow in confusion, though.

ー

ー

_"I'm sorry," and there was nothing else Matsukawa could force out of himself._

_Naomasa hated it. Hated this sticky air, hated this repulsive stench of medicine. He hated the noise of machines, the groaning roll of those carts. The hushed chattering in the cacophony. The painful silence when the door closed._

_The fluttering of paper and plastic and life._

_"Explain," Naomasa almost demanded._

_His fists were clenched over his knees, his knuckles white from effort. His heart cramming painfully in his ears, his teeth tearing over his bottom lip._

_"I can't," Matsukawa's voice was nothing short of a sob. Naomasa had never seem his as despaired as now-- "it's just... that's just exactly what's happening."_

_Naomasa felt anger explode in him, crawling over every depth of his body, making every nerve in him writhe in agony, disgust, disdain, misery._

_"You're a doctor," Nao seethed, "if you don't fix me, who will?"_

_Matsukawa buried his face in his hands--_ _and let out a shaky breath._

_He had no reply._

ー _  
_

ー

"Are you not joining the students?" Karasuma spoke up, noticing the teacher lounging around the chair of the room, watching the wind.

Naomasa shook his head, "a little solo journeying outside is what they'd like on a class trip," he told the older man, "I'll leave supervision to Octo-target."

Karasuma huffed, mumbling something about a rather lazy colleague of his. Naomasa chuckled at that, not denying it at all.

"What about you, Karasuma-san?" Naomasa asked, "Ms Jelavic's out shopping."

Karasuma sighed, "I will be out, working, and if possible, watching over the students," he decided, smoothing out the creases in his suit, "if you leave, do lock up."

Naomasa nodded, giving a hum in compliance.

"Tell the students to be careful out there," he offered.

"Will do," Karasuma complied.

  ー  

  ー  

_Naomasa slammed his hand on the table, the papers leaping and scattering to the ground._

_"You've kept this from me for more than a decade," he growled, furious, "and when I'm finally in the know, it's because you can't fix it?"_

_Matsukawa made no excuses. Made no action of denial. the only thing on his face was pity, anguish, guilt... and weakness._

_Naomasa crunched the papers in his hand, "why can't you talk to me?"_ _Naomasa found himself near tears. "Make up an excuse, tell me you're trying your best or something. Why are you just letting me yell at you? this isn't like you at all."_

_When Matsukawa looked up, those eyes were red. Those eyes were sagged with bluish grey bags, heavier than ever, so saddened even tears were not enough for them._

_Naomasa faltered, but didn't want to break._

_"We don't know what's even happening, Naomasa," Matsukawa admitted, a voice croaking out a plea, handing folded before him like a prayer, a call for salvation and miracle--_

_Naomasa could only sit back down, quiet._

ー

ー

Naomasa was wandering around the inn when a rising heat in his chest broke out into a hard, painful coughing fit. He faltered, balance losing altitude-- he leaned heavily against the wall, mouth muffling down the noise and hoping it'd cover up some pain too.

Because he'd never coughed hard enough to actually  _hurt_ this bad before.

One hand folded over his mouth, and the other clenched tightly over the center of his chest, whines of throe unable to escape, shut out by the hacking-up he couldn't stop.

His eyes clenched shut, and he waited for it to pass.

He felt something bitter crawl up his throat, and it took him a while to realize the sour, coppery taste on his tongue.

When he opened his eyes, the sight of his hand almost made a sob rip from his throat. The warm dampness at the corners of his mouth, with each breeze of the wind sending a cold, sticky shiver through his skin.

The red, bright red that painted his hand reminded him of a murderer's. Splotches over faded, like paint, yet the pungent waft of iron blew through his nose, the sensation squelched over his palm like a viscous, syrupy liquid-- 

He furled his fingers over the most of it, but it peeked through the brims of his fingers, stained his nails an ugly shade of gore-- yet, he couldn't look away.

His head hurt. His chest felt like a mallet was constantly beating it in deeper. There was that block in his throat, as if he was ready to throw up, but he knew there was nothing else he could muster.

His fingers were shaking even though he didn't think he was scared. He wasn't cold, either. He was just tired, weak, so exhausted--

His vision was blurring out, but he wasn't thinking about it. His body was giving up, but he wasn't registering it. He was falling, but he couldn't catch it.

 _Oh_ , he almost took too long to realize,  _it's true_.

He heard the noise of a panic, of a woman screaming for help of some sort-- the shuffling of feet, the hustle of a rush-- and the ringing of his ears.

  ー  

  ー  

_"I first recorded traces of it when you were nine," Matsukawa began to explain, "we didn't think much of it, because it wasn't as clear to us-- but we assume it was a mistake in the previous surgery and simply sealed it back in."_

_Naomasa knew that much. It was the reason his brother came running back home from his studies overseas, and ended up having to redo his courses from square one._

_"It occurred again five years later, and with no further option, we signed you up for a donor," Matsukawa recalled, "you had a transplant the year after that, and all was fine."_

_Naomasa wasn't interested in this. He knew this. He's heard this plenty of times. He remembers this._

_"As you know, we had two more surgeries after that," Matsukawa raised his fingers, "not including the one from a number of weeks ago."_

_"Get to the point," Naomasa barked._

_"You're abnormal," Matsukawa, pressured, let it out bluntly. He didn't know a nicer way to put it, but it was taking all he had to not cry from speaking at all. "You don't make sense, and neither does your condition. And because of that... I don't think science can heal you."_

_Naomasa's eyes widened._

_"Look," Matsukawa scratched his head, erratically, "your heart is-- it's working, it's beating, and blood is flowing through it normally. But in every aspect other than that-- it's not normal."_

_Naomasa tensed-- not liking this one bit._

_"How do I say this, it's--" Matsukawa couldn't find the words, "over the cardiac muscle, **gangrene**  is growing ...and that's eroding the tissue, creating more holes each time we see you."_

_When Naomasa went completely silent, Matsukawa bit his bottom lip, looking away._

_The only thing he could say was a grief-stricken "I'm sorry."_

  ー  

  ー  

"Good morning, Kunomasu-sensei."

When Nao woke up, he was watching the inn's ceiling, laying under the futon, and there wasn't bright sunlight beaming through the window.

At the corner of his sight, he found an IV drip, half filled, attached to the back of his palm.

Naomasa sighed.

"The students were rather worried for you," Korosensei made himself known beside the teacher, leaning over carefully, "especially since the inn contacted Karasuma."

Naomasa put a hand over his eyes, thinking deeply.

"What happened?" he asked, unable to cough up a further question.

"The inn sent you to the hospital," Korosensei explained, "we are unsure of what went on inside the hospital, but they sent you back with words of only assurance."

Korosensei didn't seem pleased. Maybe he was angered at the hospital's irresponsibility. Or maybe he was just too worried, and that was why he didn't look happy at all, even with the smile on his face.

When Korosensei helped Naomasa up, he gathered that Karasuma may be on the other side of the room, beyond the shield doors that were pulled shut.

"Matsukawa probably contacted them," Naomasa mumbled, "so they don't need to do anything for me, I'll be fine."

Korosensei's face grew red with anger, "that is not alright, Kunomasu-sensei!" he snapped sharply, "your health is very vital! there are various risks in falling terribly sick during a school trip, and--"

"Why does my health matter to you if you're going to destroy the earth, anyways?" Naomasa spoke almost too quickly, a bite of acrimony spilling out of him.

Korosensei flinched, surprised.

Naomasa knew that was rude of him, so he clenched a hand over his chest, and let out a forced laughter. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "well, I think our students will kill you before you get to blow up the earth, after all."

He expected Korosensei to reply with something along the lines of 'I wouldn't be killed by my students!', but Naomasa received no reply from the teacher.

The blank expression was sending waves of a warning, a threat, of kind anger. 

And Naomasa shrank, regretful.

He looked at his own hand-- now clean, no longer splashed with blood. His chest didn't hurt anymore, and his head was clear.

But the pain was vivid in his mind.

"Look, I..." Naomasa swallowed his words. He knew Korosensei was listening. He knew Karasuma was listening behind the shutters. 

But the words just came out.

"I don't have long to live."

The faint surprised that flashed over Korosensei's body language elicited a laugh from the young teacher. Korosensei's body jolted ever so slightly, eyes blank as ever, empty and much too fake.

"It's terminal," Naomasa explained, "I don't know how long I'll last."

Almost as if he'd snapped out of it, Korosensei bolted to panic. 

"What do you mean, it's terminal??" he all but freaked out. "Did you already know this from the start? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Naomasa couldn't help but laugh, "I found out just this morning!" he said brightly, "well, I did know I'd die early, but I reeeeally didn't think it'd be this early, y'know."

"Why are you so happy about it??" Korosensei was right about to cry.

"You, too," Naomasa smiled, "reduced to such a devastating, sorry state, why do you wear that mask of a smile?"

Korosensei stopped right there.

"We're both simply waiting for the day we'll die," Naomasa's face fell, looking out the window in melancholy, "there's nothing we can do about it, so there's no reason to be devastated by it."

A yellow tentacle landed on Naomasa's shoulder-- and another gave a soft smack at his face.

"It's not good to lie," Korosensei lectured, his face staying yellow and blank, "even the vilest of creatures fear imminent death." Naomasa realized that was truer than it sounded-- "those who hide it are weaker than the ones that show it."

Naomasa bit his lip-- and sharply turned away, holding his cheek. "If I was scared of death," he choked out, "I'd always be scared."

Korosensei's face grew green stripes. "Nurufufu! and what is wrong with that?" 

His answer was rather surprising to Naomasa.

"Fear is something you overcome, something you live with and walk with," Korosensei smiled, "there are many things to fear, but the things we love much outweighs that."

Naomasa felt a light bloom in his chest.

"The love you hold for each and every one of your students is a precious sight," Korosensei smiled proudly, "you adore Ms Sakurai, and your respect for Dr Matsukawa is also a sight to see."

Naomasa was biting his bottom lip, not taking it in. But it was just going in. He was supposed to know this, to understand this, but he was denying it.

"If I love too much," Naomasa felt the tear escape him, "it'll be harder when I need to leave."

"But if you love too little," Korosensei assured him, "no one will remember you ever lived."

Naomasa put his hand at his chest, and gave in. He let the tears flow through him, he let the emotions overwhelm him.

He didn't need anyone to convince him he should let it all out.

He was just so full of remorse he simply didn't want to care anymore.

His past life was cut short. _Much too short._

She didn't achieve anything. Left so much behind. Wasted so much time. Filled with unfulfillment, cursed with the weight of unattained goals.

He could mourn and mourn and mourn and _mourn_  but  **no**.

He couldn't go back. He couldn't go and-- give her brother that punch in the face, give her mother that hug, send her father that letter-- couldn't make it into that college, couldn't get that dream job. Couldn't give  _him_  that gift she promised.

He was just thrown into this new life, knowing too much of everything, understanding how much he could no longer do, his emotions dwelling in the broken past, his head much taking too long to adapt to what he eventually realized was just another roller coaster. 

One that would end with a crash into concrete.

Now, he had to take in  **this**.

It was a  **fucking**  joke. It had to be. Like  **hey, here's your second chance at life**.  ** _Just kidding_**.  _This time I'm gonna tell you how early you'll die instead! Have fun._  

A  **sickening** ,  _bullshit_ joke.

He was so  _tired_  of this.

Even  _death_  wasn't a fucking escape. Even death wasn't solace. It was just an entrance to a new-levelled agony and just how  _unfair_  it was broke him down further.

He cried.

Harder, louder, he just  _cried_.

He couldn't bear it anymore.

He just wanted to  **live**.

 

 

 

 

That was all he wanted.

 


	15. in this eerie exchange, he smiles.

"Kuma-sensei!"

Kurahashi Hinano was the first to notice the yukata-clad teacher walk over to the common area, arms crossed, tucked inside his yukata instead of the sleeves they belonged in.

It left his chest partially bare, but he wasn't particularly bothered by it.

"Oh, hi guys," the teacher waved with a smile

"Don't  **'hi guys!'**  me!" Maehara retorted on reflex, looking ready to bust a vein, "do you have any idea how worried we were? The hospital called and--"

"Oh, Kanzaki, you're awesome at that game!" Naomasa went right past the over-endearing student, inching over to where the black-haired girl was fiddling away expertly at the arcade cabinet.

Upon noticing the teacher, she flinched and was petrified, which resulted in her instant death, but that wasn't on her mind at all.

"Kuma-sensei!" she called out worriedly, "are you okay?

"Am I?" Naomasa asked back with  confused expression, faking a thinker's pose, "or am I actually a zombie and I don't notice it?"

"Don't joke about that!" Yada snapped.

"You guys aren't any fun at all," Naomasa pouted, "what's a little blood spurting every now and then? Some old guy does that on a daily basis and he's still the Number One Hero--"

"We were worried sick, Kuma-sensei," Kataoka Megu sighed, "you really should tell us when you're not feeling well, y'know?"

"That's right!" Okano Hinata agreed, raising a fist as Sugino nodded, "we couldn't relax after that! Did you hear, Kayano's group had a run in with--"

"That was scary," Okuda piped in, nervous, "some older, high school boys just came out of nowhere and..."

"Kanzaki-san is super pretty, so I was worried," Kayano wrapped herself around Kanzaki's arm, "but don't worry, they didn't do anything to us!"

"Don't worry, we all clobbered them good!" Karma assured.

"Those super-thick guidebooks did come in handy, after all," Nagisa looked so defeated, "though, for more reasons than its content."

"Sounds like a lot happened while I was gone," Nao mused, "I have a lot to catch up on!"

Then they spent the next good while talking about things that happened on their day. 

About how Korosensei caught a bullet with yatsuhashi; how his mucus could stop a bullet; even things like the dumb scenarios in the guidebooks; how they tried to peek into Korosensei's bthing time, to no avail; or how Mimura managed to bonk Takebayashi in the head with a ping pong ball just now.

"Are you really alright now, Kuma-sensei?" asked Isogai, his concern was evident on his face.

Everyone's faces went sullen, and honest gazes were curved to him. There was no room for lies, no leeway to escape from a proper answer.

The mood was dim, and Naomasa was compelled to smile against it.

"At least for now," Nao assured them the best he could, "I'm fine."

  ー  

"Do you have a guy you like?" Nakamura Rio began gossiping excitedly, nearly the second after they settled into their bedroom.

"Oh, love story time?" Irina teased, settling down by the crowd of snacks, popping open a beer.

"Don't you think Karasuma-sensei is super cool?" Kurahashi chimed in eagerly, "like, he's so fatherly and stuff."

"In looks alone, Maehara's got him beat, though!" Okano supplied.

"Karasuma-sensei's got that professional air about him," Fuwa Yuzuki agreed with Kurahashi.

"Isogai's a natural playboy, too," Kataoka offered.

"Chiba's got that cool and quiet persona of his, too!" Kayano suggested. 

"What about Kuma-sensei?" Yada nominated, "I think I like him."

"Uhn," Kanzaki agreed, "Kuma-sensei is really mature, but quite childlike, too. Isn't it quite cute?"

"Kuma-sensei wears his yukata weirdly," someone joked.  

"His jokes make no sense, though," Hazama muttered. Considering she was the queen of dark humour, that spoke volumes.

"Honestly," Nakamura admitted with a dry laugh, "I'd take him, but without the anxiety he causes."

"That's right, too!"

"Hehh, well, nice to be young and have puppy crushes on teachers," Irina mused, taking a sip out of her beer, "it's adorable."

"Boo, Bitch-sensei, you're too old to understand a young maiden's heart!" someone teased.

"Who're you calling old?!" she snapped, "I'll have you know I'm still twenty!"

"You're  **TWENTY**??"

  ー  

"Kuma-sensei, coffee again?" Karma almost sighed, defeated, "you know that's why you're stunted."

At the coincidental meeting, the teacher picked up a can from the vending machine, sending a raised-eyebrow look at his student. 

"How rude," Naomasa groaned, popping the can open, "that's what you should be saying to the author of this story. I'm plenty tall, thank you."

"Tall, but you're still shorter than Karasuma-sensei," Karma waved his teacher off, sipping on his own can of juice.

They began walking in the direction of their rooms, with a rather comfortable and friendly air filling the atmosphere around them. 

"Why don't  _you_  do something about your strawberry milk addiction? Diabetes," Nao hissed.

"At least I drinking something that aids my growth," Karma retorted. "And this is orange juice," he raised his can, "you should try something healthier for once, y'know."

"Oh, you're the last person that gets to lecture me, Mr Delinquent," Naomasa joshed.

  ー  

Naomasa munched on a rabbit-shaped steamed bun, tapping away at the keyboard of his laptop.

"Kunomasu-sensei, shouldn't you be resting?"

Nao shrieked a disgracefully  ** _"Gya!!!"_**  and nearly jumped to the ceiling, bolting away from his spot as the octopus gusted right in and beside him.

Nao didn't miss Karasuma's flinch on the other end of the room.

"D-Don't, Don't surprise me like that," Naomasa felt his heart pace rapidly.

"Oh, my apologies," Korosensei snickered, "but not to worry, if by chance, your heart fails, I boast medical skills on par with futuristic technology, seeing as I have my speed and precision and--"

"You and your tentacles are NOT touching me!" Nao retorted on reflex, shrinking away.

"Denied?!" Korosensei was devastated.

Naomasa hissed at the octopus, acting like a cat ready to fight. However, in the next moment, a futon was laid out beside him, and Korosensei was at his back, tentacles at the man's shoulders.

"You should be resting, anyways!" he urged, "I let you take a dip at the hot springs and have a chat with the students, now sleep!"

Naomasa gritted his teeth with a murderous glare. "I'm fine _,_ "he seethed.

Korosensei actually shrieked and shrank back.

"Unlike you, I don't have Mach 20," Naomasa stretched his sore muscles, "and I'm not as capable as you in teaching. I can't plan my lessons as efficiently as you can, and worksheets I made are generalized for each student I have."

Naomasa settled back down before his laptop, readjusting the crooked screen.

"A lax overtime is equal to leisure for me," he assured, "so you don't need to worry about me. Thanks for the concern."

Korosensei sighed, seemingly resigned.

"Mr Karasuma is looking after me here," Naomasa pointed at the cranky handsome government agent, then made a 'shoo, shoo' motion at the octopus, "so you can go back to bothering your students and leave me alone."

"Am I a nuisance to you?" Korosensei sounded comically hurt, sobbing fake tears, or maybe there was mucus in there too, "is that all I am to you?"

"You will, if you keep acting like a baby," Naomasa groaned, poking the octopus on the forehead, and somehow the octopus was crouching down low enough to let him.

"Oh well," Korosensei sighed, stood up-- "I guess I'll drop by the girls' room, then..." he decided. In the next moment, he was out like a whirlwind.

"Hold up, you perverted octopus!" Naomasa yelled into the air, "where do you think you're going?"

  ー  

"CATCH HIM!!!"

"THERE HE IS!!!"

When Naomasa made his way around the hall, he'd realized he was too late. Well, not like he could catch up to a Mach 20 troublemaker in the first place, but now the entire class was doing a manhunt-- no, an octopushunt-- through the inn.

He yawned. It really was too late for this.  _I need to go lodge in an apology to the innkeeper..._

"Huh, did the noise wake you, Kuma-sensei?" This was Kayano's voice. "You look sleepy."

Naomasa sighed with a dry chuckle, "well, I came to prevent the noise, but I was too late."

Stepping into the hall, Naomasa found Nagisa there too, gun in hand. greeting the teacher, the boy tucked the pistol into his sleeve and smiled.

"So, tomorrow's the last day, huh..." Kayano giggled, "this school trip was really fun! We got to see different sides of everyone, don't you think?"

Naomasa couldn't help but smile.

This was one of the many moments the students could really feel like children again-- it was a luxury away from the pressure of academics, and an enjoyment the higher-class students would never be able to fully entertain.

Naomasa really felt more comfortable within these bunch of students.

"Is something wrong, Nagisa?" Kayano spoke up, concerned for the boy's silence.

"Not really, I was just thinking..." Nagisa muttered. "This assassination lifestyle has only just begun-- and I don't know if this world will really end next year or not, but..."

They casually trotted over toward the window, overlooking the outside scenery.

"One thing we can say for sure is that our class will come to an end next march," Nagisa was almost confused about it-- as if he wasn't sure if he was to be sad or happy, or shocked, about it.

And Kayano was similarly unreadable. "That's true," she simply agreed.

Naomasa stood taller than the both of them, so he put his forearms over their heads, using them as an armrest. Tall people privileges.

"Hey!" Nagisa was first to complain.

"That's mean, Kuma-sensei!" Kayano was next.

Naomasa burst into a fit of laughter. "What's with the down looks, kids?" he grinned widely, "it's unfortunate that your school year will end-- but I'll promise you kids one thing--"

The two looked up, curiously, and almost expectantly.

He stood up straight, and raised a fist of assurance, "that octopus won't blow up the earth."

Kayano and Nagisa almost looked baffled, "and why are you so sure?"

Naomasa sighed, "because I can see the future!" he boasted, "and I know that the world will still exist a year, two, or even seven years into the future!"

There was a moment of silence-- then the two children busted into synchronous giggles.

"Kuma-sensei, you really make weird jokes," Nagisa wiped a tear out of his eye, "but you were trying to cheer us up, that really worked. Thank you."

"That's right," Kayano grinned at her teacher with confidence, "after all, I'm sure one of us will manage to kill Korosensei before March, right?"

And Naomasa smiled back at that.

"Of course, Kayano."

  ー  

"What even are you doing?" Naomasa raised an eyebrow at the octopus who was building a fortress of futon at the corner of the room.

Naomasa was tucking himself into the futon, dimming out the light in his corner of the room so Karasuma could work on the other side.

"I'm building my bed, of course!" Korosensei declared, matter-of-factly, "in fact, it turned out quite well, don't you think?"

And before him was a real canopy bed, full of pillows and laid over with mosquito nets. Twelve futons were stacked over each other--

"What are you, the princess and the pea??" Naomasa couldn't resist the retort.

Korosensei had the gall to  _blush_.

Naomasa sighed, pulling the covers to his waist and looking in the teacher's direction with a forlorn consideration.

Korosensei, catching that gaze, looked right back with interest.

 _I don't want to live forever_ , some idiot once declared, _I'm fine enough just living through today to the fullest_ , he was a man that grinned proudly, lived without regrets, and died too early in a war of the best. 

"Hey," Naomasa spoke up, pulling his knees to his chest. He smiled at Korosensei, "you and me, who do you think will die first?"

 


	16. your facade fools no one.

"Good morning, sir, I am the Autonomously Intelligent Fixed Artillery, and artificial intelligence sent under orders from the National Security to establish efforts in the assassination attempts of the Unidentified Slimy Octopus, also known as 'Korosensei' among the students in this satellite branch of Kunugigaoka Junior High."

Naomasa could literally do nothing but stare with a deadpan expression.

He had stayed over at campus, getting some late work done and getting a nap in the lab. Passing through to the lavatory, he had come to meet this transfer student for the first time this life.

He didn't remember Ritsu being this talkative. Or maybe it was the overload of long vocabulary that blew him away, but he really couldn't tell the girl she'd lost him at 'sir'.

She had that poker-faced smile, a programmed emptiness in her eyes. 

Her hair, that crisp, mauve shade of violet-- a rather pleasing sight around the gray of their uniforms. A little splash of colour right where we needed it.

"So," he had to take a moment to recall the full name and hoped he got it right, "Autonomously Intelligent Fixed Artillery," he smiled, "I'm the Japanese Teacher, Kunomasu. I'm pleased to meet you."

In the lone classroom at the crack of dawn, the two made each other strange impressions, and parted right after.

They didn't ask anything-- not why the teacher was there, not why the student was a computer-- neither asked each other anything. They exchanged names, but neither addressed the other directly. After the greeting made out of purely politeness, they failed to find conversation.

Simply sitting down on Hara's desk and looking out the window, they watched the sun rise in silence.

  ー  

"Good morning-- oops,"

Irina stepped into the staffroom for half a moment, looked in, saw a shirtless Nao, and instinctively pulled the door back to shut it.

"Ah-" Nao fumbled, "sorry."

He had pulled off his sweaty shirt-- he'd slept in it-- and was ready to put on a new one, but first, he needed a towel to wipe off his sweat--

"That's an incredible birthmark," Irina spoke up.

She had been standing at the door, absent-mindedly watching with interest.

Nao, turning to her, smiled back nervously. He wasn't too bothered, after all he was a man and being shirtless isn't something scandalous-- he looked down, to the skin on his chest, a pearly white shade gleaming a strange contrast against his naturally peachy skin.

His grand birthmark, large Lichtenberg figures trailing beautifully precise markings on his bare skin. It was a sight to behold-- but if only this was drawn on some marble pottery instead of over his heart.

"Cool, isn't it?" Nao spread his arms apart, almost showing them off, "they look like thunderstrike scars, don't they?"

Irina shrunk slightly, a light wince passing her features, "those are  _birthmarks_ , not  _scars,_  right?"

Almost abruptly, Nao burst into laughter.

"Of course!" he teased, "look at how large it is! If I was struck this hard and so close to my heart, there's no way I'd survive, right? I mean, with my heart condition to consider, too."

"Wha-" she cringed, "well, obviously, but--" she stuttered, "a birthmark with such a defined and precise shape-- that's just... scientifically and logically impossible."

Scientifically, birthmarks are caused by abnormal blood vessels under the skin, or by the clustering of pigment cells. Thus, they are usually in odd, strange shapes and sizes.

"Dunno," Nao reached for his clean dress shirt, pulling off the buttons and beginning to pull his arms through the sleeves, "maybe I was struck by thunder in a past life!"

"What are you, an edgy teenager?" Irina snapped comically, "geez, I've had enough of you and your irritating mysterious facade." She stepped into the room, placing her bag on her desk and settling down for a new day of work.

Nao only smiled, rather sadly.

 

  ー  

Nao walked along the hallways, holding a short stack on books in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other.

As he passed the classroom, he noticed people groaning and whining, holding brooms and dustpans--

Just as he turned to look over, he noticed his foot wasn't on solid ground. In fact, it was sliding-- slipping-- _wait did I just step on a BB pellet WAIT_ \--

He reached for a foothold that wasn't there, and tried to grab something to prevent his fall, but there wasn't anything around.

With a disgraceful shriek, he collapsed and scattered everything over the floor.

Landing on his bottom, with all his papers and books splashed over himself, a distinct  _"I saved the coffee!"_  from Karma in the distance was heard.

"Save  **him**!" Sugino retorted.

"Are you alright, Kuma-sensei?" Kataoka called out, worried.

"The bullets scattered this far?" Isogai fussed, extending a hand to help the teacher up.

"Oh no, the papers are in a mess," Kanzaki realized, crouching down to gather them, "and, our workbooks," she noticed.

As the students helped him gather his items and deposited them on the teacher's desk, Naomasa wondered briefly why he was so blessed with company.  _These kids were good kids_ , he acknowledged, wanting to shed a fake tear like Korosensei always did,  _no ulterior motives_  even.

"So, is Ms Autonomously Thinking something-this-and-that causing everyone trouble?" Nao brought up the topic casually, taking his coffee--  _Karma, did you drink half of my coffee_ \-- and making his slightly more careful way into the classroom.

"That's right," Sugino whined, "it just pulled out all these crazy machine guns and just started some kinda bulldozing rampage on Korosensei!"

At that, Nao burst out laughing.

"Well, I'd have loved to see that!" he patted the boy on the head, turning toward the machine at the back of the classroom, which was blank now, "is it going well for Ms Autonomous?" 

"Unfortunately, yes," Nakamura groaned, leaning back on her chair, "at the cost of our sanity."

Nao couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"I'm seriously losing my mind!" Yoshida spoke up, clawing his hair out.

"How many times do we have to clean up all of these? They're not easy to sweep, y'know?!" Terasaka raged, pointing his broom accusingly at the teacher.

"How convenient," Nao smiled, putting his hands together in elation, "phrase those frustrated emotions into proper sentences and you'll write a splendid essay. I expect it tomorrow morning."

"Did I just get homework? Kuma-sensei??"

"Well, since we're almost about done, how about we settle down and begin class?" Nao suggested, "we'll talk about narrative essays this time, so-"

"Narrative essays are those essays where we can go wild, right?" Fuwa chimed up eagerly, excited, "like short stories! Oneshots!"

"That's not a wrong way to take essay-writing, Fuwa, but if you write like that, you'll run out of time," Nao chuckled. He turned around and drew a mountain on the blackboard-- "a plot diagram is vital to score. You start your story at the foot of a hill, climb up to the climax, and go down to the valley where your journey ends."

"Oh, like dungeon manga! You make it to the end and come back out a hero!" 

"Fuwa, dungeon manga were literally made to never end," Nao was sour, "essays have to be short and sweet, and painfully simple. A strong concept like ninjas, mages, wizards, or aliens, or zombies, just won't make it," Nao explained.

"Magical girls?"

"You can manage one episode of Precure, but you can't flaunt Homura Akemi without destroying the beauty of her tragedy," Nao answered simply.

"Then, dragons!"

"Fantasy is difficult, Fuwa. For essays, you have to prioritise points over enjoyment!" Nao said sternly, "it's nice to have inspiration from manga, but if you reference them too much, you'll lose points for plagiarism!"

"Are references plagiarism?!" Fuwa shot her hand up, asking before she was acknowledged.

"No, but you'll have nightmares with copyright agencies," Nao answered swiftly, "unless you're a gorilla that wants to be a cheeseburger, I highly do not recommend it."

Nao was silent, arms folded sharply.

Two seconds passed, and he assured himself Fuwa would now be quiet. He waited five more seconds just to be sure-- casting a warning glance at the girl that looked like she was experiencing an existential crisis.

He breathed out, relieved.

He was totally expecting that. Yes, he was. Definitely. At least it didn't take the entire hour to win against her this time.

"Alright then, shall we move on?"

And with a toothy grin, class continued with laughter.

 

 


	17. to analyze the enigma.

"Kuma-sensei, you don't seem very interested in our new student, are you?" Korosensei asked as the teacher returned to the staffroom.

Nao made his way to the desk, Korosensei popping to drape a shawl around his shoulder, and a cup of coffee was sent to the teacher's hands, like a butlery routine.

Stopped by the door in bewildered surprise, Nao wondered if this was a bribe.

"Well, she wasn't on when it was my class," Nao muttered with a rather disappointed sigh, "and regardless, I'd already introduced myself to her in the morning."

"This morning?" Korosensei asked, "which reminds me, when did you go home last night?"

"I stayed over," as a matter of fact.

Korosensei shrieked, "you  _cannot_  be doing that!" 

Nao sat down, taking a calm, warm sip of coffee, huffing out in satisfaction, "don't worry, I only coughed blood twice after you left."

"I fail to comprehend your definition of 'alright'!" 

—

"Well," Naomasa sighed, walking down the mountain with Korosensei as an escort, "it seems our new girl made a bad class debut, didn't she?"

"A class debut, huh," Korosensei wondered, "you speak of it like a kid's high school debut. Usually, when you fail those, you're stuck, aren't you?"

Nao pondered, "well, as long as you don't call yourself a god, win a soccer match 810 to five, and then save a kid from jumping off the building while dislocating your shoulder; you'll be fine."

"What's with those crazy specific examples?"

"Comedy-insert purposes. Please carry on."

The octopus seemed to eye the teacher with distrust in making it back home himself, so Naomasa was concerned if Korosensei would stay and make sure Naomasa was put to bed too. Mainly because he wanted to get some work done before he slept today...

"Hey, what do you really think about Ms Autonomous?" Naomasa brought up quickly, "I mean, she's a robot, an AI, a killing machine programmed to foil your intentions."

 _Korosensei would think of her as a student, human or not, and wouldn't treat any differently_ , Naomasa answered his own question. It came to him right after the words spilled from his lips-- but he still stayed to hear the answer.

"What do I think of her, you ask?" Korosensei chortled, face striping green with mischief, "well, she is quite the charming child, won't you agree?"

And the smile that flowed through his face, brimming through like a spilled cup of water, came so naturally the chuckle bubbled from him without his notice.

That was a dumb thing to ask, really, he sighed to himself, after all-- this was a genetically modified human he was talking to. Surely, a naughty robot or two wouldn't get him riled.

"Don't forget to always ask for consent," Naomasa took on a lecturer's tone, "some grape thing neglected to do so and ended up getting executed on the internet."

"EEeek, scARY!"

Nao laughed out loud, enjoying the tease-filled interaction. Now that he thought about it,  _Korosensei's perverseness never really was a big thing on the internet, even though Bitch-sensei had quite a negative reputation... oh_ , "but you have epic quotes, so I think you'll be fine."

"Wait a minute, what does that mean?!"

"Dunno. By the way, Karma stole your ice cream again."

"WHAT!?" Korosensei screeched in horror. In a whirlwind he had vanished, and a moment later, he wound right back in his spot, "it's really gone! How did he find out where I hid it?!?"

 _You also have a tragic backstory_ , he added only to himself.

  —  

"My, Kunomasu-sensei!" the cheerful voice chimed up with programmed worry, "good morning! how was your trip up the mountain? I hoped you did not overexert yourself. Your bpm is 20 beats higher than your resting heart rate, so I suggest you take a rest on the desk, I've brewed a mug of hot chocolate for you. Coffee is unhealthy in high consumption, so you should refrain from it."

Naomasa wanted to go home.

First of all, he wanted coffee but that was besides the point,  _which high-tech hole did that fresh hot chocolate come from?_  He sat down to take a sip. _ **Fuck** it tastes better than anything I've ever made in both of my goddamn lives--_

"Your body temperature has lowered a degree due to the cold weather, so I suggest you take this shawl," creaky metal contraption arms folded right out of compartments that definitely weren't there before, holding a black shawl that was made of... cotton?

.. _.wait, this is kinda deja vu._

"Wait, Ms Autonomous," Nao turned sharply, "creepy. Too creepy! I mean, the change is crazy drastic! Did Korosensei put shoujo manga into your new database?"

"Not in particular, but I had been provided a series on 'How to Care for Kunomasu Naomasa'. Would you like to view Volume III, Chapter 25B, [what to do if Kuma-sensei looks tired after walking into a room]?" she offered with a bright, childlike smile.

Nao instinctively smiled right back, "no, but I would be gloriously pleased if you could tell me the location of all those books right now, and provide me the quickest method on erasing it all from existence. Preferably I'd like to get it done before classes begin!"

Ritsu's face fell.

"Deepest apologies, that is beyond my power," she mumbled sadly, actually looking down in guilt, as if she was filled with regret for her incapability, "because, in Volume VII, Chapter 187C, it mentions that I should do fulfill any request you make when you give a close-eyed smile."

Nao was absolutely petrified.

Letting a breaking, devastated breath out, slow and shaky, he pinched the bridge of his nose and calmed himself down.

"It's alright," he told the girl, "you should use more of your memory for your friends. Find something you want to indulge yourself in, instead of spending it all on useless information of me," he chuckled, scratching his cheek a little, feeling bashful, "you're not a maid or anything, so you don't need to serve me. Just know that, alright?"

The girl watched the teacher speak, taking it in with a semblance of understanding, silence and hidden elation. Her expression shone for half a moment, as she let those words dissolve in her software, and meld its way into analysis in her database.

Somehow, she felt those words were  _beautiful_.

In another moment, she retained her indifferent facade and filled it with confusion. "However, it is written in Volume X, Chapter 1, that I should refuse any refusal you extend, if it concerns your health."

The mug handle shattered in Naomasa's hand. 

"Oh, this is war, Octopunk."

  —   

"Ritsu, for the international tests that came out last week, could you do a search on the exam questions for Modern Literature?" Naomasa asked, "both English and Japanese ones."

"Roger that, sir," Ritsu made a cheeky salute, "I will have them sent to your PC," she gestured at a little buffer bar at the corner than spun. It eventually turned into a downward arrow to signal download, and then a loading bar that filled for uploading.

"Are you using Ritsu as a search engine, Kuma-sensei?" Nagisa wondered if he should stop the teacher, but was hesitant if he had the ability to.

"International tests?" Isogai came up, "last week would be, wait, the high school ones?! What are you going to do with them, Kuma-sensei?"

"Hm?" the teacher feigned innocence, "these are recent, so the test papers aren't publicized yet. I'm having Ms Autonomous hack into the government to scrounge for them so I can use them for reference."

"Reference?" Kataoka was confused.

"I'm adapting them for mock tests," Naomasa said, matter-of-factly, "you guys', next week."

A pause.

"There's a test next week?!?" literally everyone shrieked.

"Spoiler alert," Nao chuckled. 

_"Ritsu! send me those papers! Please!"_

_"Preferably the mark schemes!"_

_"Me too!"_

_"Please, Ritsu-sama!"_

Ritsu looked back like a sad little kicked puppy, warning boundary tapes rolling over the screen, flashing NOT ALLOWED NOT ALLOWED NOT ALLOWED all over, expressing her difficulty in the situation.

"Eh?" a light bulb popped up above her head, "Kuma-sensei, there's someone holding your family name in the archives."

Eyes turned with interest.

Nao's smile turned stale, "it's a common surname."

She turned to the teacher curiously, "the Physics Exam setter, Kunomasu Kazumasa," blocks of words swam across her eyes, an evident sign she was looking up information in the database, "hometown: Kunugigaoka."

"It's a mad coincidence," Nao insisted, ignoring the eyes.

"Brother: Kunomasu Naomasa," Ritsu read out.

Eyes were narrowed on the teacher.

"Enough!" Nao fumed, hands loudly crashing against the desk, gaze closing cold, "give me the files I asked for, or I'll bash all of you in the head for invasion of privacy."

Just then, the loading bar atop her head chimed once. It transformed into a green circle, complete with the neat words of 'transfer complete'.

"Thanks," he returned to his gentle expression, "well then, you guys shouldn't hang around too late. Go on home soon, alright?"

He turned around and calmly left as if he didn't just threaten to pound his students' skulls in.

Two long minutes of awkward silence and Karma's noisy strawberry-milk carton slurping later, Terasaka grumbled.

"I thought the Octopus was joking when he said Kuma got in trouble with the law."

 


	18. a reason to panic over.

A horrendous screech ripped through the air, tearing through the skies of the peaceful morning.

"Using different phrases for the same word creates different meanings, and more often than not, it'll accentuate the effect of the sentence," Nao explained, holding his book up comfortably, writing the words on the board, "shouting, screaming, shrieking, and screeching. They mean the same thing, but one feels stronger in power than the other."

"Kuma-sensei, Korosensei sounded like he was dying in the other room just now, is that alright?"

"In contrast, the phrases 'yell' and 'holler' seem to give a more non-aggressive vibe, so you can use it for other situations-- a groan of resignation, or a friendly, faraway call," Naomasa resumed class, "depending on which you choose, you can give a new effect to different scenes, and perhaps imbue scenery, mood, and tone. It'll be useful, so all of you need to brush up on vocabulary as much as you can."

A thundering clank shuddered through the classroom door as it snapped open, some yellow monstrosity charging its way into the classroom spluttering blames of "tabasco! tabasco! you put TABASCO in my ice box! why would you do that!"

"I put some white chocolate in there too," Naomasa smiled sweetly. 

"An angel!" Korosensei shrieked, "it's an outside face! a farce! a devil in disguise! A beast!"

"Like a Sadistic Ghost haunting you so you can't sleep at night?" Nao suggested, "oh wait, two explicit references in a row is illegal, let's try that again. Actually, chocolate chili ice cream is a thing, maybe you could use this as a chance to give it a try."

"Don't change the topic!" he screamed in despair. "This is harassment!"

"And this is disruption to an ongoing class," Nao returned.

"Aren't you getting better at this?!" 

"Really? Thank you."

—

"Kuma-sensei, aren't you teasing Korosensei a lot nowadays?" Maehara couldn't help but laugh as he remembered the scene, "well, at least it's amusing."

Okano agreed with a nod,  "though, it's a little sad to watch because he can't do anything back to you."

"It's revenge," Nao grumbled, crunching his can of coffee open spitefully, "he filled Ms Autonomous up with some dumb information, so it's like I've got two obsessive mothers now."

Eyes were turned to the girl in the cyber bucket, but the girl only smiled, holding up the kanji for 'Ritsu' before her like she was expecting the teacher to use it too. 

Naomasa only gave the girl a rather forced smile, not very well intending on using the name. He downed his coffee like it was a can of beer, giving a disgruntled groan as his phone chimed again. 

There was a message. He clicked his tongue. He read it, and didn't reply.

"Did something happen?" Kayano suggested, "you seem awfully riled. You're usually only like that on checkup days."

"He's drinking black coffee," Nagisa observed, "you usually drink Cafe Au Lait, so is something bothering you, Kuma-sensei?"

Nao turned his eyes to the new little note at the side of the board, announcing to the class that Wednesday was checkup day for their teacher-- and sighed, because today was only Tuesday.

"Doctors are the bane of my existence," he grumbled.

"Actually," Ritsu raised up the word 'bane' on the screen, crossing a red X over it, "to be accurate, doctors are the  _reason_  for your current existence," she altered the word accordingly. 

Her smile was so bright and inviting, Naomasa couldn't bring himself to banter back.

If not for the doctors, he'd have died long ago.  _However, was it really the better option for him to have survived this long?_ He's struggled, burdened by the weight of a sickness only called by name. Yet, in the end--  _death seemed inevitable._

If it was time and treasures, he didn't want to earn them just to lose them again. If it was living, he'd already experienced much of it in his previous round. Was there a point in living when the only thing he'd see here was nothing new?

_If I love too much, I'd hurt to see them go. But if I love too little-- somehow, that's sad too._

_Love_ , love,  **love**. That should be a foreign concept for Kunomasu Naomasa. All he could ever muster to form in his heart was bullshit nurtured from books, studies and movies.  _What even was love?_  A pitiful story concept made for dreadful melodramatics, that's what.

Kunomasu Naomasa was a man that didn't know  **love**.  _Never experienced love_. Failed to ever  **treasure**  love-- **because he was far too lost to accept love**. 

He was fine  _empty_. 

He was fine alone. Left aside; quiet and in solitude; in a little, cramped corner that shielded him from harm and interaction as he waited slowly, steadily, for Death to come take him.

He didn't like to be smothered in care and affection.

He never had that when he was younger, so he didn't need them now, either.

 **Sleep**. Maybe if he never woke up again, he would never have to agonize over this issue. 

"I'm getting an uninvited guest," Naomasa mumbled, sneezing at a chill, "personal issues, the usual. Also, the rainy season's coming by, so making my way up the mountain's gonna be harder from now on."

"An uninvited guest?"

"Let me forget it," he groaned. 

The students stifled a laugh, "Kuma-sensei, you're a busy person, huh?" they joked, sipping in their last mouthfuls as the bell tolled for the end of lunch.

"We can't use the carriage if it's raining..." Isogai realized, "if it's raining heavily, even building a roof overhead wouldn't work."

"Kuma-sensei can make it up the mountain just walking on his own," Kataoka suggested, "how about whoever sees him on the way helps with with his luggage or something?"

"We could hold his umbrella for him," Kurahashi offered cheerfully, "it'd be like sharing an umbrella! Oh, doesn't that sound romantic?"

Nao watched them with a suppressed smile, rather glad to have their company. The can of coffee was cold and wet against his palm, but he simply watched it chill in his hands. 

"I'll be fine," he reminded himself.

Another message lit up his phone, and this time, he didn't read it.

  —  

"You've been ignoring your brother's messages, haven't you?"

Ms Sakurai was not pleased about it. Her hands were at her hips, her eyes were scrunched into a rather stern glare. But somehow, Nao felt that getting scolded by her was the better option.

"I don't like him," Nao grumbled, closing the gate without as much as a glance toward his surrogate mother, "you know that, he knows that."

Ms Sakurai tidied the yellow carnations, keeping a watchful eye on the man. His suit was barely neat, but he looked tired after a day of work. He brushed his gelled hair into a mess, and curled up his sleeves to help carry the pots in.

"He's worried about you," Ms Sakurai offered with a sigh, putting down her scissors, "he  _is_  a doctor, and he became one for you, Naomasa."

"Kazumasa's taking care of Kazane's kid, isn't he?" Naomasa groaned out, frowning, "because she ran away from home, got a kid, then tossed him aside with the father."

"That's not what happened, Naomasa."

"That is  _exactly_  what happened!" he snapped, smashing his hand toward the wall. 

A pot of aloe leaped, tumbling forward, rolling aside-- tipping forward, it  _crashed_  and  _shattered_ , to pathetic pieces of jumbled soil and clay, splashed across the ground, bringing the Eustoma blooms with it as it crushed into debris, broken. 

There was a painful silence.

Ms Sakurai was petrified, quiet, in place, eyes wide in horror--

Nao couldn't move. He felt the fear, the terrified realization just strike him in the chest, seeing clearly what he had done. He couldn't turn to look at his mother, he couldn't bear to.

A heat welled up in his chest, burning hot, a searing pain splicing through his heart-- he grasped at it, and felt the tears spike through his eyes.

The guilt was eating him out already.

How could he have just--  _blown up_  at Ms Sakurai like that?

She didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of any anger at all. She was a woman, the only woman, the only person, that'd ever loved Nao. _Did he just ruin it?_

"I'm-" the words were painful, so painful, "I'm... sorry..." he actually had to struggle to pull through those syllables, to force that phrase right from his throat.

There was a ringing in his ear as his mind tossed. Turned, spun, whirled. His vision was a blue, maybe because it was darting around all over the place. What should he do?

Apologize? No, sorry wouldn't cut it! He just-- snapped-- at Ms Sakurai. 

This was terrible. He was terrible. He needed to fix this. Fix it. But it was in pieces. The plants-- the plants Ms Sakurai worked so hard to grow, they were ruined because he, a fucking adult, didn't control his goddamn emotions.

"I'm sorry," he spluttered right out, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

His eyes found the stairs, and he just ran.

**"Naomasa!"**

He ran, clutching his chest, pulling step after step after step after step; not breathing, not taking, not seeing-- he was just moving. He rushed frantically, charged into the room he recognized as his own, and the door was bolted shut before he knew it.

He curled up, small and tight; not wanting to see, not wanting to hear, not wanting to think. Not  _wanting_. Not wanting, not  **wanting**.

 _The world was scary._ He wanted to just crawl up and die. His life was a mess, everything was ruined, the world was pointless.  _No it wasn't._  Yes it was.

Nothing went his way.  _Nothing was ever his way._

Life was just awfully hard like that and he had to bear with it. He messed up,  _now what? Is there a reset button?_  If he died again could he restart like this one?  _Better yet, let me die and stay there._ Life was terrible.  _It was terrible_.  _I don't want another round. Let it end. Please._

He didn't want to think. 

He wanted time to turn back to maybe three minutes ago.

A hand gripped so tight over his chest his shirt was surely crumpled-- was he crying? No. He was wallowing in an agony he didn't really understand.

 _I'm sorry,_ he just kept thinking.

His heart hurt.

He didn't want to sleep. If he woke up, he'd be disappointed to see the world in front of his eyes.

 

 

 

Everyone has those moments they wished life would stop, and they could live in one moment forever, never needing to shoulder responsibilities and face mistakes in their lives.

To the mentally weak, even such small, insignificant moments can drive them to tears, to self resentment-- but it's not quite what they would call clinical depression. They're just frustrated, stonewalled-- stymied with human injustice.

Unable to face reality, they just panic.

They panic, and then, they cry. They cry, mourn, and they despair.

 

But don't worry about it. When they wake up, they'll be fine.

 

 

It doesn't matter if you've got a knife in your heart, you have to be alright. Even if you bleed, cry, or scream until your voice is hoarse-- the cruel river called Life won't stop flowing anytime soon.

You just have to suck it up and face it.

 


	19. the rain can't wash this over.

A hand clenched over his heart, he sucked in a breath.

The muscle tightened painfully, tearing like it was trying to squeeze it to gooey bits-- it hurt like a searing burn that only got worse with each breath, each flow of a single red blood cell, each pump of a heartbeat only thrummed an agonizing gong in his chest.

Doubled over the desk, his knees losing strength, his eyes squeeze shut as the pain overtakes his sight, and blinds him to his surroundings.

He hears something crash, and realized his arm had knocked something over. His lips bleed from how hard he's biting them, but the laceration inside his chest is so great he feels nothing.

He wavers, knowing he should clean up that pot that shattered-- but his head was on the ground, and he didn't get back up.

  —  

"We can keep trying to fix you, but--"

"I'm fine," Naomasa firmly insisted, sitting up on his bed, watching his IV end, "it's fine."

Matsukawa didn't like the sharp response, but he didn't have anything he could speak back. He didn't have an alternative, a remark, a lecture prepared-- not even a consolation.

"Just don't," Nao considered with hesitation in his core, "don't... tell Ms Sakurai."

Matsukawa's grip on his pen tightened, a stiff edge to his scribbled notetaking, irritated. He didn't have to right to keep such a promise-- but Naomasa was his own legal guardian, and he had no more family to speak for.

Naomasa was an adult, no longer a child.

"Then, who can I tell?" he challenged, hopeful. "Your older brother?"

Nao's teeth gritted, and he frowned, "don't tell him," the answer came almost expected. "I don't want him to know. I don't want him to come," he seethed, "I want him to come back, see me dead, and wallow in his disgusting regret for leaving me behind."

Matsukawa actually  _laughed_  at that.

"Sibling rivalry is present even in this family, eh?"

Matsukawa fucking  **hated**  all of the Kunomasu family. 

First, the free-range older sister that held no concept of self preservation. Then, the older brother that jumped into hellfire like a suicidal maniac and somehow ended up with a medical degree. Matsukawa now had to deal with the youngest sibling, who was mentally a teenager in his rebellious phase but was probably some monster (zombie) in disguise.

However, he guessed he should at least tell Naomasa's colleagues about it, so they'd know to watch over him.

  —  

"You seem to haven gotten rather... attached to the students in the satellite campus," Asano Gakuho mused, hands folded under his chin, his slick grin making him more serpentine than ever, "please, tell me what you think about them."

It was raining outside, loud and sharp like pelting hail in the dead of the monsoon-- yet, on a weekend, Naomasa found himself summoned to the office, and with the weather, he couldn't leave anytime soon. Well, he guessed it was alright...

Naomasa kept his hands at his lap, sat down on the chair he was provided. 

 _The chair_ , something about how he'd heard his health was deteriorating and the board chairman was concerned for him, thus didn't want to strain his well-being when it wasn't necessary to--

Naomasa cleared his throat, swallowed, and took a deep breath.

"If you were to ask me simply what I thought about them," Naomasa began, nervous but deciding to be honest, "in an educational perspective, I do think they could become decent pupils in a normal government school, at their current state. However, as they are, they do nothing but bring down our school's ratings."

Asano hummed, indicating he should keep talking.

"In contrast, students in main campus who had originally been on the weaker end of the story are getting increasingly pressured by their studies," Naomasa stated his observation, "the fear of the E class becomes void, and they seem to lose their academic motivation, if they believe it hopeless to keep striving. It rather pains me to admit, but if the E class keep improving, it may result in consequent troubles for the hierarchy system in this school, and for the students' individual futures as well."

Nao didn't look up to see Asano's face this time, lost in a thread of thought--

"It may be effective if we abolished the E class system for now and see how things play through, but the situation with the Target on the Hill seems to make it impossible," he muttered, "after all, I can vouch clearly for the fact that that Octopus is the main cause for this change-- he is, at the end of the day, a passionate, yet skillful teacher."

Naomasa turned toward the cabinet of trophies at the corner-- and somehow, the empty, large room seemed lonely. It described the principal very well. Large, powerful, and full of treasures-- yet, to the eyes, it seemed hollow as the image of solitude.

"Kunomasu-sensei," Asano spoke up, alarming the younger male. "You are quite an enigma, aren't you?"

Nao flinched to face the Board Chairman, "wha-- why, do you say so... sir?"

Asano chortled rather amused by the younger teacher's nervous reaction. It was a rather interesting contrast to the previous muttering bout.

"You don't seem to be fully in agreement with my methods," Asano didn't doubt this at all, "and you also seem rather fond of your students and coworkers in Class E." 

Nao's fist clenched, _did Asano think my answers were much too textbook?_

"You are a passionate one yourself, and you make the effort to teach wherever I command you to go," Asano was, perhaps, praising the young teacher, "yet, I sense no lies and no dishonesty in your tone as you speak of your class negatively."

Nao was riled. He was being  _doubted?_  

Actually, he also feared the aspect of accidentally offending the Board Chairman and getting fired from the job, actually he was already a nervous wreck thinking this meeting was just for a sendoff notification letter to be passed--

"Sir, I respect you," he clarified quickly, "your experience, your school, it is a  _wondrous_ educational platform right out of  _fantasies_ , and it wouldn't have been a possible creation without you, who excels at what you do. I admire you sincerely, despite my utter dislike of the discrimination in this school."

Asano was a smart man, just terribly misguided by lost hope, and odd luck. Warped by a painful lost, terrified by past mistakes.

In a way, Naomasa felt emotionally empathetic for this man.

_They were both pathetic little crybabies that were afraid of getting hurt again._

At that, Asano actually chuckled, "well, that is rather frank of you!" he was greatly entertained, "you flatter me very much, don't you?"

"In any other situation I would love to stand by your side," Naomasa shamelessly declared, "I might have worked my way up if I could, just to see if I could change anything from another perspective. There are no flaws in your concept that necessarily need to be changed, after all."

"Then," Asano eyed Naomasa clearly, a stern challenge directed in that scrutinizing gaze, "why do you still stand on the other side of the court?" 

 _Why do you still go against me, when you've proven yourself worthy of being up here with me?_ Driven to your last candles,  _why do you still stand and pretend to be strong?_  You are a feeble being fighting your last round on the field--  _yet, you stand with the less hopeful?_

 ** _An oxymoron_ ,** Naomasa mused. **_Ironic._**

"If the moon hadn't blown up," Naomasa admitted, "and this school was without that strange situation in the mountain, things would never change. Not for you, not for me... and not for that old school building."

The image of Korosensei flashed to mind, and Naomasa burned with a slightly different resolve now. 

"But, that teacher up there is...  _different_ ," Naomasa didn't have a better word to describe this at all. "He's stronger than me, stronger than you, and he's capable of protecting things he doesn't want to lose again. He's going to change and disrupt everything you've worked to create-- and I'm afraid, it's inevitable."

"So, you're implying... I would lose?" Asano didn't sounded rather offended-- "you?"

Naomasa flinched. Now, his breath held painfully, nervous. Letting it out shakily, he didn't manage to come up with the will to lift his head.

"You've changed, Kunomasu-sensei," Asano was stoic. His smile was one that seemed to never fade, yet changed rapidly. It grew eerie, creepy-- then, happy, yet, rather sad. Disappointed? Or perhaps, oddly pleased?

Naomasa couldn't understand him.

"I haven't changed," he could only offer a sad smile, and hope the emotions would pass through words-- "I've always been sitting down, in one spot," the rain seemed a little too loud, "going with the flow, like the coward I am."

How Asano took that line, Naomasa didn't know. The flicker in his expressions was of a brief confusion-- then a dimming of something akin to understanding--

"What do you think, honestly," Asano decided, "of  **Korosensei**?"

Naomasa paused. He was rather sure he'd answered something similar already. Was this a test? Or perhaps-- Asano was expecting something more? Something out of the educational perspective... an honest, personal opinion?

Thinking his answer through once more, "he's a kaleidoscope," he decided to say, chuckling in embarrassment at the childish metaphor, "we all see through it differently, yet, we're endlessly awed by it."

"Unfathomable," Asano supplied like it was a question.

"Yet, its beauty is fleeting," Naomasa agreed.

Asano chortled in a casual laughter, standing up from his seat and approaching the teacher in an easygoing manner. Without hostility, laid back-- 

_brimming with the authority of a murderer._

"He is much like you in that manner, Kunomasu-sensei," Asano put a hand on the teacher's shoulder, like a jolt back to reality.

Naomasa was stiff, and his throat was sticky. His neck was drenched in cold sweat, and his eyes feared to blink. His heart-- he felt a painful pulse, and focused to calm it down.

"Your doctor, Mister Matsukawa, was he?" Asano brought up the topic, "he's informed me of the details of your condition, and I would extend my greatest condolences to you, Kunomasu-sensei."

Naomasa clenched his heart almost on instinct, "please, sir, it is of meager importance," he justified, "I'm grateful enough that you still take me in as a teacher in this school, but--"

"Kunomasu-sensei," his hands slammed hard on the chair's back, both arms secluding the younger teacher as he leaned in much too close for comfort-- "do you know why I sent you up to that class?"

Naomasa's eyes were barely an inch before the Board Chairman's-- near enough to feel his breath, and the teacher clenched the bottom of the seat, terrified.

It was like being cornered prey.

"I wished to retain our principle even up there," Asano was firm, "but it seems, you've lacked the conviction and your heart is too soft for those children-- who should be treated as rightful maggots in our presence."

Naomasa felt a flare of anger burn in him, but he suppressed it, not brave enough to let it out.

"Have you, perhaps, become one of those?" Asano was threatening, "have you sunken to become someone that holds the standards of staying in that building?"

I've always been there, haven't I?

"I'm just trying," he choked out the words, much too old to be crying over this, "to be the man  **you**  were," Nao turned to the principal, "when you taught on that mountain, sir."

If Asano wondered how Naomasa knew anything about that at all-- he didn't consider it.

"You," Asano's grip was on Nao's face, turning the man to face him straight on, "are trying to be an  **idiot** , that's all there is," he warned.

It seemed he was irritated.

And Naomasa-- he sat still, only seeing. Those eyes, he last remembered-- they were compared to only the most disgusting things-- centipedes, serpents, monsters and beasts--

An earthen shade of brown that looked violet in the dim light. A shade that was mystique, calm-- confidence, yet so broken. A colour so entrancing, yet so empty.

Naomasa decided he was to be calm.

"I am only a feeble little outsider," he told the Board Chairman, "I cannot be anything, and I cannot be anything's replacement or representative."

With a slight smile hidden with a fool's giggle, Naomasa was upset.

"Compared to the Target, you're but a side character," Naomasa fiddled with his fingers, "...fated purely to make someone else shine so much brighter."

  _Oh, but isn't that what **teachers**  are?_

"I don't have long," Naomasa admitted, "so if you want to fire me, go right ahead right now." He clenched his hand over his chest again, as if returning to reality.

Asano swung himself out of his trance, standing back from the man and breathing out to compose himself.

"You speak large words despite your position," Asano reprimanded, "is this the bravery of a dying man?"

"Perhaps," Naomasa chuckled, "but I know that if I stay up there, there might be a chance I'll _live_  through this."

This earned him some interest from the principal.

"Even if they call it terminal, or they call it paranormal. That illogical octopus... I know he'll find a way out of it," Naomasa was uncomfortable, "I don't want to take advantage of what he is. That wouldn't be fair, would it?"

"Is it a bet you're wagering your own life on?" Asano raised an eyebrow, picking up the papers on his desk, arranging them, "if Korosensei would destroy the earth; if he would be killed before then-- if your life would end, or would a cure miraculously surface before then?"

Naomasa considered the crude phrasing.

And promptly nodded, smiling as he realized that was true.

"Do you not fear death?" Asano asked again, "or do you simply dislike living?"

_Do you not fear death?_

"What I fear," Nao admitted, "is that death won't be the end."

_What I fear, is a life after death._

 


	20. a raincheck on his resolve.

"...and isn't it about time  **you**  woke up from that?" Irina groaned, the rubber knife she tossed aside landing in the teacher's lap.

She snapped at the octopus, huffing in resignation at another failed attempt. Swearing at the top of her lungs, she stomped right out.

Nao eyed the rubber knife in his lap, and moved the open magazine away from his eyes as he murmured a sleepy good morning, trying to understand sunlight and its reason for being. He didn't get an answer.

"Well, she's certainly on edge today," Korosensei simply observed, sipping on some Japanese tea from a traditional cup, wearing traditional clothes, for no reason.

"Just who's fault do you think  _that_  is?" Karasuma couldn't resist the stately retort at the Octopus' fake oblivion--

Nao sighed, "Mr Octopus--"

"Call me 'Korosensei' already!"

"Sir," Nao defied, rolling over to face them, "she's a woman, y'know? Be nicer."

"I'm always nice to her," Korosensei huffed, dissatisfied from the accusation. "Don't look at me like that!" Korosensei whined, "you're scary when you're tired, Kunomasu-sensei!"

Nao glared at the octopus sternly, his eyes narrowed and dim on a serious note. A silent stare shot right out of exhaustion more than actual anger-- but it did its job.

Nao swiftly turned his attention away from the cosplay freak-- "anyways, Mr Karasuma, I think you should go after her."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well," Nao lolled his head around the armrest uncomfortably, "someone infiltrated campus grounds, so she's in danger."

"Someone just-- is it another assassin? she can handle herself--" Karasuma raised an eyebrow, "wait, how do you even know that?"

Nao groaned, because I watched the anime, he couldn't say. "I hear tapping," he spruced up some random excuse, "of those dumb dress shoes only you wear because you're a lunatic in the rainy season-- I wear sneakers by the way--and you're not walking, so,"

"Get to the point," Karasuma rolled his eyes.

"Someone, a man probably, other than you," Nao grumbled, "is walking around campus grounds. I think we should be worried... right?"

"Now that you've said it--" Korosensei sniffed the air-- he probably didn't need to make that dog-nosing-around motion to smell, Nao grumbled-- and turned a little purple, "a smell of death has been wandering around."

Karasuma sighed, "if it's just an assassin, Irina should be able to handle herse--"

"Just go already, you droopy Doberman!" Nao snapped, chucking a pillow in his direction. "The kids are out, so stalk her, get a drink, keep watch on her, you asshole!"

"Droopy Dober-what?!"

ー

"I've never seen you this exhausted, Kunomasu-sensei," Korosensei observed when Karasuma reluctantly left. 

Naomasa, his forearm over his eyes, groaned weakly and tried to go back to sleep. His other hand on his stomach, his feet hung over the armrest on the farther end, shoes still on--

"Does it have to do with Principal Asano's scent on you?"

Naomasa cringed, "don't smell me, you pervert."

"The principal of this school is a rather oppressive man, even for me," Korosensei admitted, "were you overwhelmed? I suspect even Karasuma may feel so at times, much less a normal teacher like you--"

"Sir," Naomasa grumbled, tired as if he was experiencing a hangover, "mind popping over to China or Korea or something? I'm craving some almond jelly."

"Goodness, Mr Kunomasu," Korosensei stood up anyways, not a hint of displeasure in his tone despite the whiny words, "I'm not a shopping taxi, y'know?"

Naomasa chuckled dryly, "thanks."

Naomasa was nursing a pounding headache, and he wanted anything more than to entertain Korosensei right now.

The principal had come right to the hospital this morning, interrupting his checkup to relay an absolutely suspicious donation of cash-- clutching his chest, Naomasa tried not to cry.

He was nervous, he was  _scared-_ -  _of what?_

Of the  _unknown_. Of the deep, unsolvable, mystery box of hidden motives behind the mask of Asano Gakuho. Naomasa feared what lay beyond his layers upon layers of questions and scenarios and actions-- the paranoia ate into his brain and wriggled its way into his heart, bursting painfully like little bombs that he wished would one day kill him.

It's only been a few days since he talked with the principal about it.

His phone blinked a new notification, reminding him of things he wanted to forget. Phone calls chimed each night, warning him to never forget the things he didn't want to go through with.

Pulling his laptop open on the armrest, Nao glared at the laptop screen moodily as he, without a single hint of a smile on his face, tapped away at the keys.

Marking a new item on his checklist and hidden journal entries, Nao sighed.

 **Maehara and Revenge** **ー** **✔️** **  
Lovro ー ✔️**  
 **Horibe Itona** **ー** ❌

They still had quite a ways to go, but they were really getting somewhere in the series of the anime. He wasn't too sure if he'd forgotten some details of the show in between-- but he didn't think he'd need to much information anyways.

He marked down today's date, and noted down two simple lines.

_**New planned surgery on Friday.** _

**_It's not going to change anything in me._ **

A soft blanket over his stomach, Naomasa closed his eyes and shut off his laptop.

Swiping an eye over the piles of unfinished work, he decided he would sleep it off and pretend everything was alright.

Everything wasn't alright, and everything was becoming worse as the days go by.

"If the Octopus didn't come by," he mumbled to himself, "maybe things would've been less hard on me. Maybe things would have been much easier to let go of."

_If you love too much, it'll be harder when I leave; but if I love too little, no one would know I ever lived._

**Why did it matter?**

In the rest of Naomasa's numbered days, he was going to try and find the answer to that. 

And, maybe, he was going to help his students with their studies a little more, too.

ー

"Hey, Kuma-sensei,"

Nao jumped, surprised to hear Ritsu from his phone.

He brought a smile to his face as he gently responded to her, "what's wrong?"

Ritsu looked distressed-- confused, and curious. "You told me once before to keep your medical records confidential especially against Korosensei, why was that?"

Nao had definitely asked that from here.

It wasn't easy to secure things from the eyes of that hardworking octopus. But with Ritsu's help, one line of a favour was more than enough.

"It's because I don't want him to worry," Nao told her honestly, "Korosensei can probably heal me. He also might not know how to, because my condition defies reason."

Ritsu nodded, understanding somewhat-- she was an entity that made 'sense'-- she was made from extensive programming and upgrades.

Nao added only to himself, that even Korosensei's existence made 'sense'. Countless experiments made consciously with strange concoctions to produce desired results-- it was mad, but in its own way it made sense.

Nao didn't make sense. A heart that opened itself, didn't want to heal, and rotted while the man was still alive-- a zombie that wasn't dead, a rotten heart that works until some select moments-- that didn't make sense, not at all.

"Korosensei is capable and passionate," Nao admitted, "but I don't want him to waste his time and his effort on me. I don't want him to despair when he finds out nothing he does can cure me. I want him to be able to go with a smile on his face, telling himself he's done all he can and he'd succeeded this time around."

Nao smiled at the girl, "I don't want to see him suffer more than he should."

Ritsu didn't understand most of it-- but she stored the information in her heart, in a very important, secured place within her database.

She did that, so that one day when she manages to upgrade herself into a form so much better at understanding the mechanics of the human mind-- then, she'd be able to look at it again and comprehend it all over again with all of her heart.

"Thank you, Kuma-sensei."

"What for?"

"Thank you."

 


	21. and let my mind rewind.

"Look, Nao," Kazu held his younger brother by the shoulders-- "Kazane may be your sister, but it'll be better if you don't go near her too often."

Nao watched, curiosity brimming in his eyes as he observed his older sister-- sitting by the window, looking out-- and talking sweetly into the phone, so enamoured by the conversation she seemed absorbed into her own world, forgetting her family.

"She's  _different_ ," Kazu didn't sugarcoat the phrasing, "soon she's going to go and live in a world neither of us can enter."

Nao wavered on the strange words-- did it mean his sister was like him, a world-leaper? It didn't seem to make sense in that context--

Nao, still a child holding the mind of a teenager, he seemed to put the pieces together rather smoothly, bit by bit understanding the reason and the fear in his brother's grip.

"Even if it's only you, Nao," Kazu made him promise this, "never stoop to the underground."

His sister was a mafioso, and she was dragging her twin down with her.

The smile on her face will never seem any less warped in Nao's heart-- that lovestruck, senseless woman, tearing apart her own identification papers, shredding every family photo that held her smile in it-- destroying every piece of furniture that once hid her tears in them--

After madness overtook her and nothing could stop her anymore-- she simply threw her belongings over one shoulder, and waved goodbye as she walked right out the door.

Nao will always hate Kunomasu Kazane.

And he will also hate the underworld that she loved so much.

ー

At first, maybe it hurt.

Everything just stopped, and from her shoulder a sharp cramp broke her shoulder blade into two, stabbed through to her left palm from the inside out-- and crescendoed to to other arm like a myriad of centipedes gouging at the speed of light.

Her teeth had bitten her tongue till it shed, but the pain was barely registered. Even the taste was absent from her senses-- her eyes were wide open but she could see nothing.

Did it hurt? The numbness was deafening; the itch in her back rubbed at the back of her mind; it may have just felt like a tickle. Excruciating agony shot across her as quickly as it left, but the phantom reminded her of the pain every second it didn't feel like it'd left at all.

Before she even realized, she was losing altitude-- her body and her limbs were loose from all nerve functions, and a cold waft through her skin reminded her of a sunburn experience.

It was only when she hit the ground the she gasped, the pain shredding across her burned skin so sharply it must've drawn blood, but she couldn't even muster the will to get her teeth out of the soil. Not even a finger was twitching in her control.

She was just still, empty, immovable-- without function.

She stopped.

It took her a moment longer to realize her breathing did, too.

Nothing was working.

Her eyes were seeing--  _but why was it so bright here?_  it should've been nighttime, rainy, even.  _So what were these irritating flashing lights?_

Soon, all she could see was white.

Then the white was gone, too.

ー

Nao jerked to the side-- and slipped.

His hand shot out, cushioning a brief fall from the bed to the floor-- but didn't support him long enough. He crumpled onto the ground, tangled in his blankets in the humid heat.

Laying broken on the ground, he curled up tough and tight-- and failed to suppress the whimper that just tore from his throat.

Pulling an arm over his head, he wished it would disappear.

He wished that vivid imagery from that horrid dream would just vanish already, like the pathetic, forgettable dream it was supposed to be.

He prayed it would go away,  _go away_ ,  _ **go away**_. 

He didn't want to be anywhere near it. Sobbing from the monster that ate him out within, he gripped a hand to his heart and felt it beat. 

Rhythmically,  _one-two, one-two, one-two_.

It was working.  _It was working_.

He's not dead.

 _He's not dead_ , he choked on a sharp breath, sniffling pathetically.

"That was just a dream," he lied to himself, "just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream," chanting to himself as if that'd work any better, "just a fucking nightmare. just a fucking--"

He howled, a despaired, agonized wail. 

He was impatient, irritated, devastated, broken. Shattered beyond recognition, yet pretending to be an intricate kaleidoscope people could still look at-- 

Sometimes he just hated how horrifically  _useless_  he was. How meaningless his existence was. How miserable he was against his own weaknesses.

_Why couldn't it just all **end**  already?_

it was probably much easier that way.

ー

_"Are you sure you'll go to work today? You look really pale."_

_"I'm fine."_

_"Could I at least drive you up?"_

_"Sorry, Ms Sakurai-- I just need a bit of time to myself."_

Naomasa kept his eyes on the ground, and wondered what was the point of all this. 

People spent a lifetime trying to forget that they die in the end. Like idiots, they obsess with some form of perishable entertainment only to die whining about their insatiable lust for addiction. 

He wasn't any different, not then and not now either.

If life was so meaningless, there wouldn't be a difference if he just died now. If life was all about pleasures, why was he fated to die so early?

She wasn't loved in that world, but she worked and laboured for the little bit she treasured-- then tragically she lost it in death. 

He was loved in this world, but he discarded it without a second thought, yet it came chasing after him in the form of people he couldn't spend longer with.

He hated this thing called  _life_.

This _thing_  that just played around with people, watching him suffer through such cruel fates without the inkling to help or interfere, simply for their own enjoyment-- how was this fair?

The rain was heavy and he couldn't see a thing before him-- but all he needed was to see the sight of his sneakers soaking in more muddy water, squelching disgustingly to just describe his current emotions, venting in the form of horrid emotions--

The quick flaps of a fan cut into his thoughts.

The rain was loud and deafening, yet Nao could make out the sound of something akin to a jet engine, beating against the rains--

Mere steps from where he stood, right by the school building-- was a boy standing in the rain, yet not at all wet or damp from the weather.

Something, something so quick, was rapidly spinning across his head, his hair swooshing like wind was blowing across it-- the pure white shade of it caught Nao's attention.

"Horibe Itona-kun," he spoke up with calmness that betrayed his inner turmoil, his teacher mask fitting so easily back onto his face he almost tore it right off in unease-- with a smile that could've never expressed his agony, he asked, "what are you doing out here? you'll get wet in the rain, y'know?"

Itona shot his gaze over with such alarm-- no, not alarm-- that was bloodlust. He was preparing for an attack.

His eyes were wide and angry, his lips were sealed tight and pulled flat in a lack of emotional sensations.

This child was mad. The insane kind of it-- his gaze was crazy, and his body language was taut like a robot's tuned movements. Programmed to perfection, this was a government experimental subject.

"I won't," his answer was stoic, matter-of-fact, and uninterested, "for I am stronger than the rain."

Nao held back a snort.

"Even if that's so," Nao's expressions softened, feeling the dull emotions affect him too-- maybe he was tired of being happy today. He'll probably take a nap in the lounge.

"Well," Nao mumbled, hoping Itona could hear him, "if you get struck by thunder, it's going to hurt really bad, alright?"

Itona turned back toward the school wall that led to the back of the classroom-- he had easily become disinterested, and didn't feel the need to answer that question.

"I'm stronger than the thunder," an easy, unconsidered answer left his lips-- and his body language made it clear he wanted the teacher to leave.

Nao's eyes narrowed-- "Itona," he stressed the name, "this strength you have isn't the strength you wished for. This is... this is strength for destruction."

Itona's eyes didn't leave the wall.

"What else would anyone wish for strength?" it didn't seem like he wanted to entertain the teacher any longer on this matter.

Nao breathed, and closed his eyes.

Itona wasn't listening to him-- his heart was nowhere near understanding enough to communicate with this random, insignificant teacher that seemed to have nothing better to do than try to lecture an oddball delinquent.

Nao bit his bottom lip, because that was true.

He didn't have the kind of power to do anything other than _talk_  and  _pretend_  that measly, cheesy lines could solve any problem he came across.

Reality evidently didn't work like an anime, even in an anime world.

_There was a limit to bullshit, after all._

And Naomasa was starting to forget that he, himself, was epitome of absolute bullshit.

 


	22. why you're my favourite teacher.

“Hey, where’s Kuma-sensei? He’s late.”

Kayano seemed dejected at the news. She kinda liked that teacher, despite anything-- no, maybe she hated him? Well, it was a case-by-case kinda feeling…

Kataoka hummed, similarly grim for the day.

“He wasn’t in the staffroom last I checked. Maybe he has another hospital appointment today.”

 

Things were always strangely empty without the teacher around.

Nothing much changed, in the bitterest meaning of the situation-- Bitch-sensei was a great teacher, so was Korosensei, they could easily fill in for whatever lessons Naomasa missed out for them.

But something would always feel different.

Nagisa would find himself jotting down notes, and he would lean it over his shoulder only to realize no one was looking at his book today.

Sugino bought himself two drinks, then remember that he only needed one. 

Isogai and Kimura found themselves glancing out the windows anxiously-- maybe they should take a round down the hill after all, if only to ease their own nerves. 

 

“Fuwa-san,” the door slides open, and to everyone’s surprise, Nao trotted in, a paper in hand, “about this essay… what’s with the looks?”

Naomasa shifted the stack of test papers under his arm, his other hand holding Fuwa’s paper-- his eyes shifted over the classroom to find that every eye was on him.

Including Ritsu, why was she even on?

“Kuma-sensei, you have no presence at all, huh,” Karma mumbled to himself, “some of us have been hunting you down the whole morning.”

And Naomasa shrugged, “maybe I’ve mastered the art of standing so incredibly still that I become naked to the invisible eye.” 

 

There was a moment of silence, then Naomasa raised his hands in defeat, “I just got here, kids. Honest, the principal dropped me out back just two minutes ago.”

“The  _ principal _ ,” someone echoed, exasperated.

“He’s got a nice car,” Naomasa shrugged, as if that was a normal thing, “had an emergency checkup this morning, but he wanted to make sure I made it to my class on time.”

Naomasa didn’t miss the way the class tensed, eyes narrowed in skeptic scrutiny, He couldn’t blame them-- after all, the entire prospect of their principal  _ ever giving a shit about their education _ was just  _ blasphemous _ .

So their intentions probably  _ was _ something infinitely malicious-- or perhaps, the intentions were purely on the teacher himself.

What principal would go so far as to leave his office for one lowly demoted teacher? Or maybe...

“What is he planning?” Maehara mumbled, not unheard by the others in the classroom.

Naomasa wouldn’t say he was any less suspicious of that man. He had absolutely no idea  _ why _ that Principal was so obsessed with him-- Naomasa certainly was giving that man periodical reports of Korosensei and the student’s progress, but after that one conversation they’ve had, Asano made no attempt to stop Nao from helping the kids improve.

Nao was an interference to his plans, right? So why wasn’t he removed yet? There was no reason for Nao to be here and no reason for the government to want to keep Nao here.

Nao shivered at the thought of the mind games in the background. He wished someone else could do the thinking for him, sometimes.

 

Naomasa dropped his papers on the desk.

“Regardless, Fuwa-san, I’ve told you not to write fanfiction in your essays,” he raised the paper, waving it about, “it is impressively written, but you crossed the word limit by bounds and went off topic many times.”

At that, Fuwa made this despaired cry, “but didn’t you watch that new episode of Demon Slayer last night? There was  _ no way _ I could’ve gone without writing fanfiction of  _ that _ !!”

“So you decided to write it in your homework instead of say, a word document?”

The girl scrambled to his side, hands interlocked in a sort of worshipping motion.

 

Naomasa held up one stack of papers, crudely stapled together in one corner. Packed thickly with writing on every side, the little stack probably had about fifteen sheets.

“Holy crap, I’ve never seen such a thick piece of homework,” Nakamura gawked.

Nao put his foot down, arms folded, “reading this as a single story is impossible, as the lore is far too deep to be put into narration,” he told her, “the story ends up feeling impulsive, rushed, with far too much emotion because you under-explain too many elements of the world-building. Also, you had a total of thirty misspellings, twenty-four illegible kanji, and nineteen wrong hiragana.”

“And he read all of it?!” Okajima pointed at him like he was crazy.

“Halfway through Scene six, the girl seems to disappear from the scene entirely, forgotten by both narration and her older brother,” Nao continued speaking, entirely unaffected, “and in Scene Eight, the conversations are too forced. In Scene Ten however, you have reduced all conversation to continuous writing. Did you get lazy?”

The class watched as Nao continued to ramble on, flipping through the pages that were surprisingly filled to the brim with red-inked corrections and teacher’s notes.

Fuwa seemed to shrink at every new point the teacher made, while the rest of the class watched in a most baffled way.

 

Then, finally, Nao dropped the stack of papers on the girl’s head.

“With all that in mind, I expect a resubmission in three-week’s time,” he said, “in a proper, no word limit, multi-chaptered fiction format. And forget the test question, just focus on the story’s direction.”

Fuwa blinked. “What?”

“You can type it out if that works better for you,” Nao continued, “let’s hope we finish this before we have to bunk down for your tests, eh?”

Fuwa looked at her essay. Then, turned to the teacher in disbelief. Then, she looked at her essay again, then back to the teacher.

“You’re not going to tell me to rewrite the essay properly?” she didn’t know if she was hearing things right, “like, instead of this… fanfiction nonsense?”

Naomasa raised an eyebrow, “of course not, this story is absolute genius. You think I’m gonna let it rot in my drawer as unfinished?” 

“No, that’s not what I meant--”

“Though, it is rather impressive how you’ve actually been listening to my classes, it shows in the work,” the teacher began mumbling, “like Scene Two’s rather interesting line of purple prose, and Scene Four’s parallel with Scene Fourteen, and--”

 

When Nao lifted his head again, it was to a line of awed faces and impressed smiles. Confused, he found Nagisa jotting something down, and Sugino quietly dropping off a can of coffee on his desk.

Fuwa was staring at him with the happiest expression he’d ever seen.

It was almost like her eyes were sparkling in happiness, clutching onto her essay and eyeing it so reverently-- 

“I’ll treasure this forever, Kuma-sensei!”

“What? No!”


	23. and in my thoughts I sink.

“Kuma-sensei, you in here?”

“I am here, though I do not need to be-- holy  _ crap _ .”

It’s a normal day, like any other. Except, Naomasa’s temperature was deemed half a degree too high so he’s being contained in the infirmary. (No one cares that it’s simply because of the weather, they’re sticking him in there until he’s healthy again.)

Then Nagisa walked into the infirmary, something like the darkest scrape on his forearm purpling his limb in a disgusting--  _ ah, it isn’t a bruise. _

“It’s a friction burn,” Naomasa stalked over as Nagisa seats himself on the stool. Naomasa deposited himself in the nurse chair and grabs a clean rag.

Nagisa laughed dryly, “Karasuma-sensei elbowed me a little too quickly, so I went flying,” he said it like it was a joke, “y’know, cause I’m small, so he didn’t… see me there… and I was slow to dodge anyways-- OWOWOWOW!”

Naomasa pulls Nagisa’s arm over to the tap, holding the arm firm and running water through it. 

“Hey hey, it’s just water,” Naomasa soothed, “the worst part isn’t even here yet.”

“It still hurts,” Nagisa offered in protest.

“I’m sure you’ll learn this eventually, but you’ll have to learn how to land safely if you’ll be roughhousing on the grass,” Naomasa pays his protest no mind, “I have a feeling this will scar.”

The wound was large across the forearm, a split gap across the skin that looked a little too gruesome for the faint of heart. Well, all friction burns looked like that. Nagisa would be lucky if this didn’t scar.

“Oh no,” Nagisa gulped.

Naomasa laughed at that, “I’m sure the scar will be cool,” he assured him, picking out the ointments from the shelves, hoping he’d picked the right ones. 

“Huh? Uh, yeah… but,” Nagisa swallowed his words, looking to the side as he spoke-- he swallows a thick gulp, and the next words were much softer and harder to hear, “my… mother… wouldn’t like it.”

Naomasa’s hands paused for a startled second-- then continued to work.

“Then I’ll head over and apologize,” he said without hesitating, “I’m sure Karasuma can come with me to say sorry.”

Nagisa spluttered, not expecting such a drastic measure (usually teachers would just assure him blindly and say to take it as a lesson of being more careful, or offer to pay the bills-- it’s a little hard to remember sometimes, but the assassination classroom tended to have minute difference like these.)

(Unnerving. But perhaps a little asuring… at the same time, not, because Nagisa’s mother isn’t the apology type of person.)

(She’s the type that would go ballistic and call authorities and what if she finds out about the classroom she’s going to scold him again because he’s part of this filthy classroom environment in the first place…)

“Tell me if i’m binding it too tight,” Naomasa’s voice interrupted his thoughts. 

The man was alarmingly patient. Setting the gauze down, he carefully tugs the bandage over his arm- and he’s holding it like a piece of very fragile glass. It’s the most gentle Nagisa’s ever been handled.

Nagisa watched him wind the roll of bandages loosely over his wound, each loop a little more confident than the one more.

The silence was comfortable.

Naomasa didn’t ask a thing-- why would a boy’s mother get mad about getting a wound from PE? They should laugh it off as careless, because boys had the right to be absolute chimpanzees in every situation, according to Sugino.

(My mother wants me to be elegant.)

“Thanks, Kuma-sensei,” Nagisa inspected the finished bandaging, and it’s a bit of a menace, but it’s comfortable. Luckily, it was on his left arm. He’d have to stay out of sparring, but he could still participate in most of everything else.

Naomasa returned the items to their respective spots before turning to Nagisa, who was already on his way out.

“Tell me if you need painkillers and change those bandages every day, but go to a proper doctor if it gets worse, alright?”

“Yes, sir, see you tomorrow!”

(Sometimes, Nagisa really appreciates that Kuma-sensei never asks.)

(Other times, he wonders if Kuma-sensei doesn’t ask, because he already knows.)

-

Naomasa listened to the teacher talk, and tried not to show his disgust on his face.

A new message flashed in his phone, and he scowled at it. It wasn’t rare for Principal Asano to text him each time a new development occurred, but this time he was actively seeking dirt against the government.

What was he, a double agent? He was asking Nao for anything he could use to ditch the new teacher.

(Guess there are types of people even Asano can’t handle…)

Takaoka Akira didn’t spare Nao a single glance. He was less significant than Irina, after all. He smiled at him where it was necessary and introduced himself while they were all together in the staff room. He didn’t bring up any conversation, and since Nao asked no questions, he gave no small talk in response.

He only minded himself with Korosensei (if dropping an armful of sweets on the desk was a sign) and nothing else. He expressed no interest in Irina’s beauty, professional as he was.

Naomasa kept a mental note, and wondered to himself what he could say to really be of use for the Board Chairman.

(He knocks his head against the windowsill. Why are you obeying psychopath Principal? Goodness, just ignore his messages.)

(Asano sends another message. He expects hourly reports now. Fuck me.)

“I personally feel that you, Karasuma-sensei, are most worthy of leading our students,” Korosensei said, pointing at Karasuma while he cast a blank yet perplexed expression out the window where Takaoka was. 

He left soon after that, and Karasuma offered no answer.

“Are you sure about this, Karasuma?” Irina offered her own two cents, “there’s something off about that new guy.”

And Nao found himself nodding quietly.

For Irina, it was probably her instincts talking. Karasuma would know better than to doubt an assassin’s instincts-- but everyone underestimates Irina, so perhaps that clouds his judgement.

Korosensei may have spoken through his intuitive discern-- or he could be speaking knowingly but desired to see how things would play out. 

What should Nao do?

He sends a message to the principal:  **_He’s stealing my students from me :(_ **

-

Asano Gakushuu never cared much for his father except his father’s opinion of his grades and achievements. Well, maybe he might want some fatherly attention kind-of-thing sometimes, but definitely not from  _ this _ father. 

Sometimes he wished he had more than one. One to actually be a father, and the other, well, can stay up on his pedestal and preferably not talk to him.

So when he came to the office only to find his father snickering at his phone, looking way too peaceful and much too soft for a man of his caliber-- Gakushuu closes the door, checks the sign above the door, and walked back in.

(Ah, thank goodness, maybe that was a hallucination.)

Because surely, Asano Gakuho the Board Chairman does _ not _ giggle at his phone screen. It wasn’t even a smirk, or a sketchy laughter. For a moment it seemed like actual endearing joy, as if he were looking at cat videos or--

(Hallucination. Hallucination.)

The Board Chairman is stoic, face blank and patience and emotionless as usual. 

Gakushuu forgets the ghost of that strange sight very quickly, because his father is talking about a new plan for tests and restating his expectations, and although Gakushuu could care less about what he already knows, he puts on his best soldier face for his father.

(That’s right. This is normal.)

(My father does not smile kindly.)


	24. avert; to divert; to turn away attention.

**To: Asano-san**

**From: Me**

**_He brought sweets up the mountain_ ** **_  
_ ** **_And he’s not giving me any!_ ** **Σ(°ロ°)**

**(╥﹏╥)** **_pls fire him hes mean 2 me_ **

 

Naomasa watched the scene outside, sipping on his cold glass of coffee. Takaoka was leading the class in some old-fashioned chant, and the class was giving him a quiet but warm response.

He turned back to his phone.

 

**To: Asano-san**

**From: Me**

**_Working on tests..._ ** **__φ(．．)**

**_He deleted my classes_ ** **_  
_ ** **_Is dat legal_ ** **( ºΔº )〣**

 

“What are you doing?” Karasuma gave him a judgemental look. A single glance at the screen full of kaomoji and unreplied texts was enough of a weird sign, “what are you, a high school girl? Send a more professional text… isn’t that the principal?”

A beat of silence.

Naomasa looked at Karasuma, blank-faced, and took another sip.

“Are you suicidal?” Karasuma asked, entirely serious.

Naomasa resumed his typing. In the calmest tone he could muster, he told the other teacher, “Asano-san wanted me to text him every alternate hour about Takaoka. I’m just doing exactly what he told me to do.”

“You’re unexpectedly petty about things, aren’t you… wait, Takaoka?” Karasuma pinched the bridge of his nose, then perked up in surprise, “...why?”

Naomasa put the phone down, and taps a pencil against the paper on the desk. He shrugged, “hell if I know,” he dismissed, “but one thing, Karasuma-san-- Asano-san doesn’t like being ordered around about things. So maybe he’s not too happy about needing to instate a suspicious new teacher this late into the semester.”

Karasuma raised an eyebrow at that.

“He’s had to deal with that from the start of the year,” Naomasa laughed, almost helplessly, “I think he’s getting annoyed, y’know? I mean, I was probably sent up here to be a spy for him to begin with, so he’s kinda just making use of me-- ah, he responded.”

He bolted out of his seat.

“AHhh, the traitor!” Naomasa whined at Karasuma, “ _ he’s _ the one that gave Takaoka permission to alter the schedule”

Karasuma froze.

“The schedule?” he said questioningly-- then it sank in and his head snapped toward the window, where Takaoka was handing out a stack of papers to the class.

Naomasa gulped, “oops, you don’t know yet?”

-

“That crazy bastard,” Karasuma swore under his breath, at a volume Nao barely heard.

Nao made his way over to the window-- just in time to see the military trainer knee Maehara in the gut. Gasps sprung across the students, and some stepped back, others ran forward.

Maehara was on the ground, hacking up his breakfast.

Karasuma’s grip on the windowsill tightened, his eyes flashing through the picture on the desk-- the  _ two _ pictures on the desk-- and his foot lifted to heft himself out of the building.

He heard a snap from Naomasa, who had his phone in his hands. 

The other teacher was calm. Calm-- he was always calm-- but it felt a little different. His eyes were a little more narrowed than usual-- he was focused.

“Go on, Karasuma-san,” the phone was held precariously on its side-- and Naomasa captured perfectly the precise moment Kanzaki was slapped across the face, thrown to the ground.

Karasuma whirled around in alarm, and without another moment to deliberate, he marched forward.

And Naomasa stayed perfectly still, eyes set on the scene before him. He didn’t join Korosensei and Irina outside, but he stayed in the safety and overlooking the perfect view from that window-- and he simply watched, pretending to not exist.

After all, Takaoka didn’t see Nao as a threat of any sort. He didn’t even acknowledge Nao as a coworker.

 

**To: Asano-san**

**From: Me**

_ Video01.mp4  _

 

Naomasa thought that perhaps, he was more suited to this spywork than he thought. The Board Chairman was much smarter than he thought.

-

“Are you going to stay in there and pretend this isn’t happening?” Irina hovered over the window, looking disapprovingly at the teacher, “I thought you loved the kids.”

Naomasa yawned, putting down his pen. 

“Didn’t the Octopus get the talking-to already?” Naomasa groaned, “if I go too, it’ll be redundant. Like a deleted movie scene, it’s not gonna be too important. Unless you’re that one irondad cheek-kiss scene that we still have no idea why it was deleted-- don’t look at me like that, it’s been a while since I’ve broken the wall so we have to start somewhere.”

“Are you trying to change the subject?” Irina rolled her eyes, arms crossed, “unlike us, you’re a normal teacher. Normal teachers don’t just--” she gestured vaguely in his direction, “ _ sit there _ when that--” she gesticulates dramatically in the direction of the field, “is happening.”

They usually go over like idiots and try to lecture the offender, only to get shoved back and give up. Or something, whatever the movie cliche is.

Naomasa sipped on his drink and breathed out a sigh. “Normal teachers just sip on their coffee and think nostalgically, ‘ahh, I miss when we were tortured in gym like that’ and then they go on with their work.”

“No they don’t!” Irina retorted.

Well what would you know, Ms Irina, you’ve never been to a normal school. (Okay that was not meant to be said. Let’s pretend he never thought that.)

“My words will be as useful as yours, Ms Jelavic,” Nao stood up from his seat, taking his phone with him, “so let’s just sit back and watch the show, eh?”

Irina seemed to have something to say, but it fell short when Naomasa lifted up his phone, and called for Ritsu.

“I’ve sent the file to the military database, sir!” she saluted, wearing a fairly adorable soldier costume, “I made sure to send it to the higher echelons of the government directly so it won’t be censored by the Octopus-extermination team and straight to child services.”

Irina gasped.

Naomasa smiled, “thanks, Ms Autonomous,” he told her, “please make sure none of it gets to press, and make sure they know Asano-san has it handled on this end.”

“NDAs have been distributed, signed, and returned with vows of silence!” Ritsu displayed the letters of text proudly on the screen, “the government can pull some strings as long as the children are promised mental care, which Karasuma-sensei, as well as Kuma-sensei, have the qualifications to cover.”

Naomasa startled, “how on earth did you learn about my counselling license?! I buried that in the ground three years ago--”

“Everyone in the Kunomasu family have at least a Masters in--”

“Stop! Stop! Burn! Erase! Delete!”

“According to [How to Care for Kunomasu Naomasa] Volume IV--”

“Oh sweet jesus--”

“Wait,” Irina interrupted them, “you’ve been-- what on earth? That’s crazy stuff.”

Naomasa could only laugh in response, “trust me, I’m not doing anything the Board Chairman didn’t ask me to do.”

Irina whirled back, startled. “The Board Chairman? That man?”

Naomasa nodded, “surprising, ain’t it? I told him I wanted to help the kids and like, anyone else that crazy bastard’s ever trained-- you think he’s only still in the military cause whistleblowers were persecuted? Anyways-- then Asano-san said that he didn’t want the school’s rep to get contaminated and he also said that any news I send their way will be muffled by them wanting to retain their government image and using the excuse of the octopus to divert the case-- so I used Ms Autonomous instead.”

Irina took a moment to simply register that, baffled by the ramble of information and not being too sure if she was still hearing it right.

“Wait wait wait,” Irina held up her hands to stop the man from speaking further-- seriously Nao was speaking like a master of information dumps-- “you’re coordinating a ploy to get Takaoka fired.”

Naomasa bugged out, “uh,” he stalled, “Asano-san is.”

“But you’re doing all the work.”

“Actually, Ms Autonomous is--”

“Are you actually an evil mastermind?”

“Huh? No way!”

-

When the Board Chairman showed up, everyone was stunned.

Naomasa watched from his spot on the desk, his camera well positioned to document the scene. Maybe he could send it as one last message to irritate the principal.

It was-- enrapturing, to say the least-- that this man could just march up to a man everyone feared and simply-- take him down, without even raising his hand.

Karasuma knocked Takaoka down with strength and surprise. Asano tore him apart with raw authority and words. 

“Isn’t it amazing?” Naomasa spoke to himself, knowing Irina and Korosensei were around to eavesdrop, “Asano-san is definitely weaker than Karasuma-san-- yet no one looks down on him. No one dares.”

_ Snap _ . He took another picture. 

He laughed when Korosensei fidgeted in worry, as if he was going to be persecuted simply for taking a couple of pictures of the scariest man in the world. 

Maybe he would. But Naomasa’d been testing his limits and apparently he wasn’t there yet. Why not push further?

“Kunomasu-sensei.”

Nao realized just a moment too late that Asano is right before him. He accidentally took a picture of Asano’s face before he jumped back.

Very promptly, he panicked.

When he first began to send joke mail to the Board Chairman, he’d been under the assumption that he wouldn’t come face to face with said man for another while and said man would leave him alone. It did not work that way and he is disappointed.

“I would like to thank you for your assistance,” he smiled that one smile that really, never was real, because it looked like the smile of nightmares, “I will have to return to my paperwork, so it would please me to relieve you of your hourly reports… they were incredibly amusing.”

Nao winced at that. Was he going to die?

“I trust you have settled the issues on the government end?” he asked, an eyebrow raised.

Nao fumbled for his phone--  _ oh, it’s in my hand _ \-- and asked, “uhm, Ms Autonomous? Is everything settled?” his voice is high from how nervous he felt, and he tried not to make it obvious how embarrassed he was about it.

“Of course!” came Ritsu’s happy voice. She evidently had no idea how scary the man she was talking to was. 

Nao didn’t blame her, she was a robot after all.

”The government has promised his discharge under discretion and the school board will not receive any charges or public exposure about the matter. Ritsu has covered all bases of public media in regard to it,” she huffed proudly.

Nao looked back up at the Board Chairman, who was evidently rather amused by the Artificial Intelligence he’s only heard of.

His smile morphed into something rather warmer-- Nao blinked and it was gone-- then he put a hand on Nao’s shoulder for a job well done before leaving.

Nao still felt incredibly horrified by the small interaction. Irina and Korosensei stared at him, flabbergasted.

“How on earth are you still alive?” Karasuma asked.

Irina facepalmed, and Korosensei began to lecture Ritsu about assisting in Mafia evil schemes. 

Naomasa sighed. 


	25. asking for directions.

“Uh, Nagisa-kun...”

 

Nagisa turned around, surprised to find Kanzaki behind him. It was rare for Nagisa to talk to anyone other than Sugino or Kayano, much less the class madonna Kanzaki. For Kanzaki to approach  _him_? Is the world ending I wonder…

 

“What’s wrong, Kanzaki-san?”

 

They were three streets from Kunugigaoka’s hill, where most of the class, including Kanzaki herself, split off in different directions.

Usually, they would never meet past that point, so it was strange how Kamzaki was behind him. Her house was in the other direction, after all.

“Uh, would you happen to know where the Sakurai Florist’s is?” she asked, holding up a hand-drawn map before her as she laughed a little sheepishly. “I’ve heard it was around this area, but thinking again, this is my first time wandering to this part of town…”

 

Nagisa chuckled in response.

“The streets here are narrow, so it’s hard to find your way around,” he said, stepping closer to her in hopes to catch a look of the map she had.

 

Kanzaki breathed out a heavy sigh in relief, “I’m so glad I caught hold of you! I’d have been lost for hours…”

 

That would surely be terrifying.

But what exactly was Kanzaki trying to do, coming to such uncharted territory alone? It wasn’t even a Friday…

 

“Sakurai Florist’s… ah, isn’t that Kuma-sensei’s house?” Nagisa asked, surprised to realize it belatedly. “Come to think of it, he didn’t make it to class today… do you think he had another surgery he didn’t tell us about?”

“I wonder…” Kanzaki hummed, “but, Kuma-sensei told me to drop by if I was ever in need of his help, so I believe I should take full advantage of every occasion, right?”

Kanzaki was an unexpected opportunist.

 

“Ah, Nagisa! Oh, and Kanzaki-san’s here too,” came a voice from further away.

Fuwa Yuzuki made her merry way over to their company, a similar hand-drawn map in her hands. Her greeting was cheerful and just the slightest bit obnoxious, but Kanzaki flawlessly, without even a second of hesitation, returned it.

“Nagisa lives in this area, right? Perfect timing, I’m totally lost!” Fuwa laughed at herself, as if she was proud of it, “I’m trying to find my way to Sakurai Florist’s.”

 

“You’re looking for Kuma-sensei too?” Nagisa didn’t really know why he was surprised.

“Uhn!” Fuwa pumped her fist, “I finally finished my novella and Kuma-sensei is definitely the first person I want to show it to!”

She held up a stack of papers that looked incredibly thick, but Nagisa really didn’t want to question it at all.

 

“What a coincidence,” Kanzaki smiled back, “I’ve written a story as well and hoped to hear Kuma-sensei’s opinions on it. I believe we will have to share his time.”

Woah, Kuma-sensei is popular. Does he even have enough time to read that many books? Nagisa felt kinda bad to be leading two she-demons into his direction.

“Oh, then Kanzaki-san will go first, followed by me!” Fuwa claimed the order immediately. After all, it was only reasonable for Kanzaki to go first, since she’d found Nagisa first. “Whose do you think he’ll like better?”

“We write in different genres, so it is rather hard to determine…” Kanzaki responded humbly at first, “but when it comes to the quality of writing I do not think I would lose out, Fuwa-san.”

“Oh, Kanzaki-san is declaring war on me!” she sounded so ecstatic, “you’re scary, but you’re still so beautiful! How can this ever be?”

“Well,” Nagisa decided he’d heard enough, holding a hand up to stop their conversation, “but for now, let’s just go and ask Kuma-sensei.”

 

Beside them, simply passing by, a man in a coat paused.

“Yes?” he turned, addressing the three children.

 

Huh? The three turned back to him, confused. After a few moments of blank staring, the man connected the dots.

 

“Ah, my bad,” he said, a bashful chortle rumbling from his throat, “people often call me that too…  _Kuma-sensei_ , I mean. I’d forgotten that I was in Kunugigaoka now.”

 

Well, that was a little awkward.

 

 

“No… it’s perfectly fine,” Nagisa said, only out of politeness.

The man was tall. As tall as Karasuma-sensei, perhaps. His hair was also black, but it lacked the stern kemptness Karasuma always exuded. This man had a salt and pepper stubble.

He wore an old-fashioned coat, and held a little briefcase along with his map. Nagisa noted that his briefcase was stuck all over with animal stickers. Was he a teacher? Or a pediatric? He worked with kids, that was for sure.

From the little dirt on his clothes and the disheveled state of his hair and collar, he had probably just gotten off from a long train ride.

Nagisa wondered who he was.

 

“Ah, this is great timing, would you kids mind if I ask for directions?” he inched closer.

He felt Kanzaki take one step closer to him, and Fuwa took the opportunity to stand behind Nagisa as well, hissing a little too sharply about how this guy was a picture-book pedophile or something.

(Fuwa-san, shush, he can hear you!)

 

The strange man smiled at them, a farce of kindness that was probably nice, or probably just the face of a kidnapper. But it’s okay, Nagisa thought, they can uh, probably defend themselves to like, a certain degree. Or not.

Nagisa panicked internally. He may not seem so, but he was the guy of this current trio. That did not exactly boost his confidence at all, and most would agree that Kanzaki could single-handedly nerf a delinquent gang if you let her.

But Nagisa’s anxiety quelled immediately at the question the man asked.

 

“Would you happen to know where Sakurai Florist’s is?”

 

All time stopped.

“Huh?”

 

-

-

 

“Ah, you kids are from Naomasa’s class, aren’t you?” the lady that opened the door was infatuated by the children immediately, “come on in!”

The lady was so chipper and lively, she left the staff door open and headed inside, expecting them to follow.

From the store, the distinct call of “Nacchan! Your students are here to see you” could be heard.

 

A few seconds of silence happened with them wondering whether they should follow (but it’s a little rude) (but she did give permission) (but this is like, an unannounced visit shouldn’t we just wait till Kuma-sensei comes out and lets us in himself) (I think she wants to serve us tea so we should follow her…)

 

“Nacchan,” Fuwa fawned, hands on her cheeks from the utter  _moe_  of the situation, “she calls him Nacchan!”

“She seems like a very nice mother,” Kanzaki agreed.

Nagisa felt kinda sorry for him now.

 

 

Suddenly Ms Sakurai doubled right back from the door, looking beyond the three children with a sort of surprised realization.

“I didn’t realize at first because of your  _awful_  hair, but is that you, Kazu-kun?”

 

All three children paused. They turned to the passer-by that had asked for directions before this, and all of a sudden something made sense.

In fact, they had ignored him moments before because they thought he was simply an eccentric customer, but it seems it was more than that. He was crouching down to look at the orange lilies at the front porch.

He seemed to look at them almost sadly, cradling each flower as if it was a hurtful thing to remember-- then he straightened and smiled at Ms Sakurai.

“It’s been a while, Ms Sakurai,” he greeted her, “I hope you are well. Is my younger brother around today?”

And Ms Sakurai, who previously looked chipper, sighed almost helplessly.

“He’s been dreading your arrival for so long, he was entirely ecstatic to have a seminar scheduled today in his school later this evening,” she told him, “unfortunately for him, you managed to arrive before he could leave.”

 

The man laughed boisterously at that.

“Well, our relationship has never been the best,” he admitted dryly, “he even left out the orange lilies for me, how mean of him.”

“He wanted to pick out the black roses, but I stopped him,” Ms Sakurai sighed for the nth time that hour, “enough of that. Come on in and I’ll get him to come downstairs. You children too!”

 

The three children flinched, suddenly realizing they’d probably listened in on some familial banter they had no business hearing, but really couldn’t escape anymore.

 

Much more, this man was Kunomasu Kazumasa… the older brother Naomasa had always been reluctant to speak about.

 


End file.
